Blair visits The Walking Dead
by complete-randomalities
Summary: Blair wanted a break from her reality. With the help of Bonnie and a new spell she was given just that. She had no idea that she was going to be sent to place where her new reality was worse than the one she wanted a break from. (A Personification AU)
1. Jane Doe

Blair plopped onto the couch and looked over at Bonnie who was going through a new Grimoire she recently acquired. "What's got your attention so captured?" She wanted to know.

Bonnie didn't look away from the pages as she answered. "There's a realm jumping spell in here. I'm still trying to figure out the logistics but it looks like whoever the spell gets cast on will be sent to a different dimension until the spell wears off."

"That sounds so cool!" Blair exclaimed as she shot off the couch and sat on the table in front of Bonnie. "You so have to cast that on me."

Bonnie looked at her like she was nuts. "Not happening. I haven't even finished translating this yet. You could die in the other realm or whatever and stay dead. I didn't intend on casting it, I was just answering your question." She snapped the book closed and got up to leave, hoping the subject would end there.

Blair wasn't going to let her get away that easily. She shot up from her spot and cut her off. "Bonnie, please. I think you of all people could understand that I need a break from reality." She clasped her hands together and pouted her lips. "Pretty please? I promise to be extra, extra careful."

Bonnie didn't believe her for one second but it would be interesting to try. "I don't even know if your powers are going to work there."

"That's fine. I've been human before – many times actually." Blair grinned wide before crossing her arms and asking, "What made you change your mind?"

"If I don't cast it for you then you'd just find a way to get someone else to," Bonnie explained as she flipped through the pages to get back to the spell. "At least this way I'll be able to keep an eye on you and stop the spell if anything looks weird because I honestly have no idea where the spell is going to send you."

Blair rubbed her hands together in anticipation laughing a bit like a mad scientist because she felt ready for anything, "Let's do this."

* * *

One second Blair was lying on the floor in Bonnie's living room and the next she's lying in a hospital bed, waking up with a jolt. Blair looks around and doesn't see a person in sight, hell it doesn't even look like there's even electricity in the place. After pulling the IV from her arm with a slight wince she got out of the bed and noticed the ID bracelet around her wrist. "Jane Doe" she read aloud, then muttered. "Of course I am."

Blair went into the bathroom to get a look at herself – to make sure that she actually looked like herself. With all her lives, who knew who she'd actually look like? Especially since she was considered 'Jane Doe'. At least her face was her own, though.

"Let's find something else to wear, shall we?" Blair said to her reflection in the mirror on the wall and started going through the cupboards so she wouldn't have to walk around in this unknown dimension in a freaking hospital gown. Unfortunately, she didn't find anything so going in search elsewhere was currently on the agenda.

Blair opened the door to her hospital room and walked out into the hall, almost walking straight into a medicine cart as she did so. The hallway had stuff scattered all over the place. Emergency lights were blinking and buzzing and this made Blair say, "Oh come on, did I end up in a horror movie? Why couldn't I have been sent to Middle Earth or the Tardis or something?"

She threw up her hands in frustration then jumped about fifty feet before taking a fighting stance when the door beside her room opened and a guy walked out who nearly fell over a hospital bed. Based off his bandages and hospital gown, he was clearly another patient. Blair just hoped this wasn't a mental hospital. She dealt with enough psychotics in real life, she didn't need it now.

The guy looked surprised to see her standing there. "Who are you?"

"Blair," she answered, still ready for a fight. "Who are you?"

"Rick," he replied then looked around. "What happened here?"

"How the hell would I know? I _just_ woke up here." Blair wasn't lying about that. Of course, she left out the whole being sent to wherever the hell they were by a spell thing.

"Me, too," he replied, clearly uncomfortable by this whole thing. Without another word, Rick walked right by her to get down to the Nurse's Station down the hall where there was a phone.

Blair figured if the spell sent her to where this guy was then there must be a reason, so she followed him. Unlike him with his limping, Blair was walking just fine. As he picked up the phone, she said, "If I had to guess, that's not gonna work. I mean, have you looked around this place? It's like we woke up in the apocalypse." As soon as those words left her mouth she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Please tell me I didn't just wake up in a post-apocalyptic world."

Rick turned around and looked at her like she was insane. "Who are you again?"

"Blair," she answered then drew it out, " _Blaiiiiiiir_. Got it?" Blair crossed her arms and sighed heavily. "Look I don't know you and you don't know me, so there's no trust between us. But we both woke up at the same time in neighboring hospital rooms, so that's gotta mean something, right? I don't know about you, but I think that means we should stick together, eh?"

Rick was still trying to size this young woman up and said, "Fine. Only because if I start to fall I'm going to lean on you to catch me."

Blair laughed as they started going down the darkened hall together. "Oh, Rick, you clearly don't know me at all. I wouldn't catch you – I'd step aside, laugh as you fell, then help you up."

"You are a strange one," Rick muttered with a groan since he was still in pain and wrapped his arm around the bandage around his waist.

"I've been called worse," she replied with levity then froze when they reached a pair of doors. Through the glass they saw a woman's body on the floor and by the looks of it…something made a meal out of her. "Oh, hell, I am in a horror movie. My _life_ is already a horror movie at times – I didn't want my vacation from reality to be a horror movie too!"

When Rick, once again, looked at her like she was insane, Blair raised her hand and said to him firmly, "Don't ask."

Rick wasn't sure which he was having a harder time processing – the young woman beside him or the environment he had just woken up in. Hell, a part of him wasn't even sure if this Blair was even real. She could be a bizarre hallucination for all he knew. Well, hallucination or not, he was stuck with her it seemed.

Blair sighed as she saw how Rick looked like his brain was rebooting or something. "I'm guessing your not used to not normal stuff, eh? Well, it's a good thing I'm here then because nothing really phases me anymore." As she started walking away, she called over her shoulder, "When you've lived as many lives as I have, some stuff doesn't really get to you."

Rick looked at her in disbelief again before going after her. The more she spoke the more he thought he was going crazy. Or perhaps she was the crazy one? He didn't get much further with his thought process because Blair stopped and said to him, "I think things are about to get freakier."

He didn't understand what she was talking about until he got closer and saw all the blood smeared on the walls of the hallway. There were bloody handprints and footprints everywhere, it seemed, and the air reeked even more here than before. This area looked even more damaged with the ceiling practically being nonexistent and all the wires and such hanging down.

Rick and Blair continued down the hall until they reached a pair of doors that was bolted and boarded shut with the words 'Don't Open. Dead Inside' painted on them. The doors started to rattle as moaning sounds grew louder and louder.

Blair's eyes widened a bit as the doors opened just enough for a hand to push through. "I'm not prepared to deal with feral Vamps, if that's what those are, so let's get out of here? Yeah?" She didn't wait for an answer and darted through a nearby door. It wasn't long until Rick was right behind her.

"What did you mean by 'feral Vamps'?" Rick asked, still trying to figure out what the hell was actually going on.

"Rabid Vampires," Blair clarified. "Look, I don't know what those were but Vampires are my specialty. So if we just so happened to have woken up in a world like Vanessa Helsing's, then I think we've got a chance."

Blair stopped walking when she realized that Rick wasn't following her anymore. He looked like he was completely freaking out and having a panic attack. "Oh man…I'm being too 'eh, whatever' about this aren't I? You're not used to freaky stuff and I live it." She waved her hands a bit in a grand gesture to get him to start breathing. "Deep breaths, Rick. I can't have you passing out on me. Come on." She inhaled deeply and exhaled in the same way until he was doing it with her.

Once he looked a little better, she asked, "You gonna be okay?"

"No," he came right out and said that without a second thought.

Blair expected it. "You'll recover. Now, come on and let's get out of here." She led the way to the stairwell and asked, "You got a light of any sort?"

Rick nodded and produced the book of matches he picked up from the Nurse's Station.

With an affirmative nod, she said, "Let's go then." Blair took a deep breath and led the way into the dark stairwell. Damn, it reeked there and the light from the matches wasn't much but it was enough to help them get down the stairs and out the first exit they came to.

Their eyes needed to adjust when they pushed the door open and all the natural light met their senses. When Blair's eyes could finally focus she could hardly believe what she was seeing. There were bodies lined up as far as she could see in the parking lot, all wrapped up in sheets, with flies everywhere.

She then realized that Rick was taking off without her so she quickly went down the short staircase and caught up with him over the little hill. When she reached the top there were military vehicles all around them –trucks, choppers, you name it and it was there. Well, except for a tank—there was no tank. "I'm starting to think Vampires aren't it," Blair said to Rick, but he paid no mind to her and just started walking.

Blair let out a heavy sigh at this and went along with him. If some weird Vampire Apocalypse was off the table then that probably meant it was Zombies. Now the type of Zombie was yet to be determined – Romero? 28 Days Later? Or those really bizarre ones from Z-Nation? She had no idea and wanted to brainstorm with Rick while they walked but he looked like he was hitting an overload already, so she didn't add to that. Like she stated before, the spell threw her in Rick's path for a reason, so she was going to stick with him. And if she was going to survive this world the spell threw her in then she was going to need all the help she could get. Especially if, in this world, she was nothing more than human.

* * *

Blair and Rick walked together in silence. She didn't recognize the town and didn't think now was the right time to ask where they were. Well, wherever the hell it was, it was pretty deserted. They didn't see another person the whole time they walked.

Actually, that's wasn't entirely true. They did see another person…a half a person anyway. That was dead. And snarling. And trying to crawl its way over to them to presumably eat them. At least Blair knew what kind of Zombies they were dealing with now. As long as there weren't different types of them, that is.

Near the half Zombie lady there were a pair of bikes so Blair and Rick each took one and started riding. She could clearly see he was still freaking out a bit and didn't say anything about it. Blair wasn't the one who needed to speak about it, because he did.

"Why weren't you scared?" Rick asked as they rode down the street, knowing where he wanted to go but doubted if she knew where they were headed.

"I've fought of Vampires, Werewolves, Hybrids, and mean ass Witches," Blair answered honestly. "A Zombie is just another 'monster' in the repertoire." Blair rode without hands long enough to put air quotes around the word monster.

Rick brought the bike to a stop and looked at her in question. "What is a Zombie?"

Blair stopped as well and turned round to face him. "Oh, come on. Everyone knows what Zombies are." It didn't seem like he did, though. "Seriously? Night of the Living Dead? Z-Nation? 28 Days Later? Resident Evil? None of these ring a bell?"

Rick clearly had no clue what she was talking about and Blair said, "Does Zombie lore not exist in this universe or something?"

Rick was about to respond to that but she started riding off before he had the chance. And since she didn't know where they were headed he continued on as well, getting in front to lead the way.

It wasn't long after this that they reached his house. He quickly dumped the bike and went inside to try and find his wife Lori and son Carl.

Blair heard him calling out their names as she dropped her bike and went into the house after him. By the looks of the house, the people left in a hurry. She took her time going through the place and found Rick on his knees in the living room, sobbing and crying out their names in agony.

She crouched in front of Rick and put her hands on his shoulders. "Rick. Rick, listen to me. I don't know how but I swear we'll find them. Okay?"

With tears in his eyes, he looked at her. "Are you real? Is this real?"

Blair wondered if this world only existed because she wanted to go on an adventure and decided to answer him with, "This is your reality."

Rick sniffled and forced himself to his feet. "Lori…my wife…you can find something of hers to wear. I need some air."

Blair didn't think it was a good idea to split up but she would like to be able to wear something else. In the bedroom she found a stray pair of jeans. They fit her waist alright but were way too long for her so she had to roll them up. She found a tank top and a flannel shirt, having to roll up the sleeves and tie up the shirt too. Blair found a pair of tennis shoes in the closet and let out a breath of relief when they were only about a half size too big.

She was about to look for something to tie up her hair when she heard a gunshot. Blair booked it outside upon hearing that and found a kid with a shovel and an older guy standing over Rick with a gun. "Get the hell away from him!" Blair shouted and ran over to stand protectively in front of a disoriented Rick.

The guy with the gun aimed it at Blair now. "How did he get that wound! Was he bit!"

"We both woke up in the hospital," Blair answered, not taking her eyes off the gun. "If he was a member of the undead it probably would have happened already. Now I suggest you put that gun away before I disarm you and shoot you with it. I'd hate to have the kid see that."

The guy looked Blair over, trying to size her up, and didn't lower the gun. Instead, he handed it to his son. "If she tries anything, shoot her." He then turned his attention back to her, saying, "Help me with him. We're going back to our place."

Blair took a deep breath and helped get the now unconscious Rick up and over to the guy's house. With a gun held on her like that, it wasn't as if she had any other options.

* * *

Blair was seated in the hall outside the bedroom while the guy, who introduced himself as Morgan and his son Duane, tended to Rick's bandage. Finally he opened the door and was about to cut the ropes around her wrists, but she surprised him but showing she'd already undone the binds instead.

He narrowed his eyes at her and brought her into the room where Rick was now sitting up in bed. "Glad they didn't kill you," Blair greeted as she sat at the foot of the bed.

"Mutual," Rick answered then turned back to the man. "Thank you for not harming her."

"She played nice, so I didn't have to," he answered. "Come on out when you're able." He cocked his head for his son to come with him and left the room.

Blair watched them go then looked at Rick. "Haven't decided if they're friend or foe yet."

"Why do I have the feeling I need to ask you to behave?" Rick asked as he rubbed at his wrists from being bound to the bed.

"Because you have good instincts," Blair grinned then hopped off the bed and waved for him to get a move on. "If you want to ensure my good behavior then I suggest you get moving."

Rick grumbled a bit at her words before getting out of a bed and wrapping a blanket around him. Once he was ready, the pair of them went out into the kitchen where they heard sounds coming from. On the way there, he said, "Glad you were able to find something to wear."

"Thanks for not checking me out the whole time I was in the hospital gown," Blair answered with a light laugh. "I was well aware that it didn't close all the way in the back."

Rick didn't get a chance to answer that because they just walked into the dining room together. He looked around at the blankets in the windows, mattresses and other bedding on the floor in the living room, candles lit everywhere and supplies all around. "This place," he began to say, "belonged to the Drakes…"

"Never met them," Morgan replied. "It was empty when we got here.

Blair went over to the window to move a blanket aside to get a look but was stopped when Morgan said, "Don't do that. They'll see the light. There's more of them out there than usual. I never should have fired that gun today. The sound draws them and now they're all over the street. Stupid – using the gun, but it all happened so fast. I didn't think."

Blair moved away from the window and leaned against the doorway as Rick said to the guy, "You shot that man today."

"That wasn't a man," Duane replied.

"You shot him," Rick continued to say to the guy. "Out there in the street, you shot that man."

"I'm guessing that 'man' was a member of the undead and he saved us from being his next meal," Blair interjected as she pushed herself away from the doorway.

"It was a Walker," Morgan explained then invited them both to sit down and join them. "Sit down before you fall down," he directed to Rick, then said to Blair, "You seem to know a bit about Walkers. What else do you know?"

"Walkers – Eat Flesh," Blair sang to the tune of the Subway jingle. She did it to lighten the situation but it didn't appear to be appreciated. With an eye roll she said, "Aim for the head, don't get bit or scratched, or exposed to their bodily fluids. Which is everything you all probably know already." Blair gestured in a random direction, saying, "Bathroom?" she didn't want for an answer and turned around on her heels before leaving the room.

After finding the bathroom, Blair looked at herself in the mirror and said aloud, "I've had enough of my vacation from reality, Bonnie. Can you bring me back now? _Please_?" When nothing happed, she shouldn't have been surprised but she was a bit hopeful that it would work and Bonnie would stop the spell and she'd be able to go home. Blair should have put more thought into asking Bonnie to cast the spell, but it was too late for that now. She'd just have to play this out until the spell finally ended on its own.

* * *

When Blair awoke the next morning it took her a minute to realize that she wasn't in Bonnie's house but that Drake's residence. Rick was sitting on the floor beside the couch she fell asleep on and turned to face her when she woke up. "You doing alright?"

"Just peachy," she snarked back as she moved into a sitting position. "What's the plan here, Rick? What's our next move?"

"I don't know about you but I'm going to find my wife and son," Rick answered. That was all he wanted to do and one way or another he was going to do it.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again – We woke up at the same time in the same place for a reason. The way I see it, you're stuck with me. So what your plan is, that's what mine is." Blair looked at him as seriously as her tone of voice.

"Until it's not, right?" Rick asked as he stood and adjusted the shirt he was given. "I can't expect you to follow my lead forever."

Blair stood up and crossed her arms, looking him square in the eye. "Look around, Rick. There aren't a lot people that I'd trust, yet alone follow. But I trust you so, yeah, I'm going to follow you. I know I don't look like it but I've lived long enough to know when to say 'screw you' and when to accept being part of the team." She leaned forward a bit to say, "In case you haven't noticed, this isn't a 'screw you' moment."

Rick scoffed a chuckle as he shook his head at her. "You are an odd one, Blair."

"I'm pretty sure you've said that to me already," Blair answered as she patted his arm, "and I'm pretty sure I told you I've been called worse."

* * *

With the help of Morgan, Duane, and a pair of baseball bats, they made their way back to Rick's house. Rick was convinced that his wife and son were still alive because pictures off the walls and the family photo albums were missing. Blair hoped for his sake that he was right.

"They're in Atlanta, I bet," Duane suggested and his father agreed. "That's right."

This was the first time Blair had gotten a hint as to where they were. "Wait, we're in Georgia?"

They all looked at her like she was a bit nuts. "You didn't know that?" Rick asked since this was the first time she'd said anything like that.

"Dude, I woke up in a hospital having no idea how I'd gotten there, and my ID bracelet even said 'Jane Doe'," Blair shot back. "So forgive me for not knowing what freaking state I'm in. I gotta say I always thought I'd come back to Georgia, but this is not what I had in mind."

Rick didn't have time to try and figure her out, so he asked Morgan, "Why Atlanta? Why do you think they'd be there?"

"Refugee center," he replied. "A huge one they said, before the broadcast dropped. Military protection, food, shelter. They told people to go there, said it'd be safest."

"Plus the got that disease place," Duane interjected and Morgan elaborated, "The Center for Disease Control – Said they were working out how to solve this thing."

When Rick went into the other room, Blair asked, "Where are you going?"

He answered her by showing her a set of keys in his hands. "I'm going to the Sheriff's station for supplies. You coming?"

"Do I really need to answer that?" Blair replied and the four of them started off for the station.

* * *

When they arrived there was no one living or dead there but there was hot water thanks to the Station having its own propane system with the pilot light still on. Suffice to say, they all enjoyed having a hot shower in their respective locker rooms.

After getting out of the shower Blair scrounged through the lockers and found some more clothes. What pleased her the most was a black leather jacket that fit her almost perfectly. Along with a sports bra that she was beyond grateful to find.

Since the guys were raiding the weapons locker, Blair went into the evidence room to see if there was something there she could use. She laughed at the sight of a compound bow and a quiver full of arrows. Blair wondered what crime these were tied to as she pulled them off the shelf and carried them out with her.

"You know how to use those?" Rick asked when he saw her choice of weapon.

"I've used a bow more than once," Blair replied and added in, "they're my second preferred weapon _and_ quieter than a gun. Ready?"

Rick nodded in an 'alright then' way and lead the others out of the Station, saying to Blair over his shoulder, "Nice jacket."

"I'll be sure to thank the lady for it if I ever meet her," Blair answered, not caring that she technically stole it.

Rick scoffed a chuckle at that before saying, "Be sure to conserve your ammo. It goes faster than you think, especially at target practice."

Blair tuned out the rest of Rick's conversation with Morgan as she got into the patrol car and waited for Rick to do the same. She did hear enough to know that Morgan and Duane wouldn't be coming with them to Atlanta. Whether or not going there was a good idea, she had no clue, but she'd already decided to follow his lead. If the day did come where she said 'screw you' so be it, but today…today was not that day.

Blair was pulled from her thoughts with a jolt when she heard a gunshot. She looked out the window and saw Rick holding up his revolver as a female deputy turned Walker dropped to the ground on the other side of the fence.

When Rick got into the car, she looked at him with a raised brow. He answered that look as he started up the car, saying, "I thanked her for you," and left it at that.

* * *

Blair leaned back in her seat as she looked out the widow at the passing scenery, thinking aloud, "The last time I was on a road trip my ex was set on fire and then I slept with him."

"You know, for the record, I'm likely never going to believe a word that comes out of your mouth," Rick answered as he drove without looking at her.

"I tell the truth more often than ya think." Blair sighed in an 'oh well' manner. "It's not my fault if you don't believe me."

Rick was still trying to figure her out but for the life of him he couldn't. She didn't seem to be a danger to him or herself so he wasn't too worried in that department, but it's everything she said that concerned him. If this was a normal world then he would have likely dropped her off at the local mental ward to get her the help she needed, but this wasn't a normal world anymore so he was just going to have to do his best to look out for her.

Not saying anything else to Blair, he picked up the radio and started broadcasting in hopes that someone, somewhere, would hear his voice.

"You think anyone can hear you?" Blair asked as she looked at him instead of out the window. "I mean, you sure that thing even works?"

"It works," Rick answered, "and it's worth a try. We're not the only people out here."

"Thank the flying spaghetti monster for that," Blair laughed. "If we were the only ones left to populate the earth then we'd be screwed – I can't have kids."

Rick gave her a bit of a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Don't be," Blair replied, looking back out the window. "I made my peace with that a long time ago. Not even sure why I made the joke anyway." To keep them from talking about this anymore, Blair took the radio from him and took a turn trying to get someone on the radio.

* * *

All things come to an end and the gas in the police car was no different. Since they didn't know whether or not they'd actually find some, they took all their gear with and started walking.

After walking in silence for a bit, they came upon a house. Rick set the bags of weapons he was carrying down and called out, "Hello? Police officer out here. Can I borrow some gas?"

"Borrow?" Blair laughed. "How do you intend to pay them back if they have any?"

"Have you never heard of manners?" Rick retorted and set the gas can down before sprinting up the stairs of the front porch to see if anyone was home.

Blair probably should have stayed with the weapons, but she notched her bow and started walking around the house to see if anyone was around instead.

She didn't find anyone or anything as she made her way around the house, not until Rick came over to her with a saddled horse in each hand. Blair lowered the bow and laughed, "Seriously?"

"You got a better idea on how to get us to Atlanta?" Rick asked in reply.

Blair returned the bow to its quiver and stuck her arm through to hold onto her bow, saying, "You're damn lucky I love horses."

Rick just grinned, a bit pleased with himself. Once the two of them saddled up with their gear, he led the way to Atlanta since Blair already admitted that she had no idea where the hell they were.

* * *

Blair and Rick stopped right outside the city and from what she could see… "It looks like a ghost town. Well, ghost city." She had a bad feeling about this. "Are you _sure_ about this, Rick? Wouldn't there be _something_ out here telling us that it's safe?"

"Do you see anything telling us that it's not?" Rick asked before getting his horse moving again.

Blair followed him, saying, "It's a lot easier putting up 'welcome' signs when it's safe than 'keep out' signs when it's not."

Rick didn't say anything in response to that and just kept on going.

The further into the city they got, the more concerned Blair became. Not only were there no living people in sight but there weren't any Walkers either. This didn't sit well with her in the least. "Forgive me for doubting you here, Rick, but even you've got to admit that something doesn't feel right."

Blair wasn't able to say anything else because her horse started whinnying at the presence of a small group of Walkers. "Whoa, whoa," she said calmly to the horse. "You're alright."

"It's only a few," Rick said to her. "Nothing we can't outrun."

"Let's just hope this few doesn't turn into a few hundred," Blair muttered as she got her horse to continue to follow Rick's lead.

There were upturned cars everywhere, fences, sandbags, and even an abandoned tank with a dead military man on it. "I'm never going to watch Zombie movies again," Blair thought aloud to herself as she looked around, then added in loud enough for Rick to hear, "I've seen enough movies to know this is the part where things go to hell. Things have been too easy so far."

"You are one of the most pessimistic people I have ever met." Rick looked around to get an idea of what they were walking into, not wanting to miss anything. Currently, he was focused on the tank.

"I'm not a pessimist," Blair defended. "I'm a realist."

"I thought you said this was just my reality, not yours," Rick countered, giving her a quick look.

"Until I wake back up in my friend's living room, this is my reality, too." Blair stopped talking when she thought she heard something coming in overhead. "Dude, am I losing it or do I hear a helicopter?"

Rick heard it too and saw its reflection in one of the glass buildings. "Let's go!" he called out to Blair before a "Hyah!" to get his horse into gear.

They were about to turn the corner but hit a wall of Walkers. Blair gasped while trying to keep her horse under control and shouted at Rick as they turned back, "I told you this was the part of the movie where things go to hell!"

Blair was right about that. There were even more Walkers when they went back from where they came from. Both she and Rick fell off their horses and scrambled under the nearby tank. While Rick lost the bags of weapons, she still had her bow and arrows, but they weren't very useful at the moment.

With the two of them under the tank, Rick fired his revolver while Blair used a couple of arrows to drive into the heads of the Walkers that were close enough. "Rick!" she exclaimed when she realized there was an opening in the bottom of the tank. She quickly climbed up inside with Rick right behind her and closed the door behind him.

The pair of them leaned back against the tank's wall and laughed in relief. That relief was short lived when the military guy next to Rick started growling. Rick instantly reacted by shooting the Walker which resonated the sound within the tank.

Blair felt like her head had just exploded and became pretty disoriented as her hears rang to high heaven. Finally, the ringing faded and was replaced by thumping from the Walkers outside trying to get in. She turned to Rick who just returned to her side after closing the top door and held her arrows firmly out towards him. "These are quieter!" she seethed before punching him in the arm.

Blair closed her eyes and rested her head back, taking deep breaths. "Now what?"

Rick didn't get a chance to even think of an answer for that because a voice came crackling over the radio saying, "Hey, you. Dumbasses. Yeah, you two in the tank. You cozy in there?"

Blair looked from the radio to Rick and pointed at it over her shoulders, saying, "I have no idea who that guy is but I'm so going to punch him for calling me a dumbass when I meet him."

* * *

End Episode 1

* * *

 **A/N: Hey, Readers! This is just something I wrote for fun after Blair being in TWD setting was suggested, and I'm honestly not sure if I'll continue it or not. I guess that'll depend on how well my insanity is received lol. Thanks for reading! :)**


	2. Thriller

"Hey, you guys alive in there?" the voice coming from the radio inside the tank asked.

Blair reached the radio first and answered with, "Yeah, we're alive and when I find you I'm going to punch you. You have been warned."

"Blair!" Rick said in a scolding tone and took the radio from her. "Hello? Hello?"

"Warning skeptically received," he replied. "Good to know you're both alive, though. You had me wondering."

"Where are you?" Rick asked into the radio. "Outside?"

"Well he sure ain't in here," Blair muttered and rolled her eyes when Rick shot her an expression that she mentally referred to as 'The Look'.

"I can see you in case you're wondering," the voice spoke through the radio. "You're surrounded by Walkers – that's the bad news."

Blair pulled the radio from Rick's hand and said to whoever they were talking to, "If you got some good news up your sleeve, then now would be the time to share it."

It was silent for a moment before the guy answered with, "I don't."

Rick took the radio back and spoke into it a bit frantically. "Listen, whoever you are, I don't mind telling you I'm a little concerned in here."

"Oh man, you should see it from over here," he replied. "You'd be having a major freakout."

Blair didn't take the radio from Rick this time and just squeezed his hand to turn it on as she said, "We're stuck in a tank with no food, no water, no bathroom, and no way out of here. I think we're already freaking out just a little bit!"

Rick gave her The Look again before asking the guy on the radio, "You got any advice for us?"

"Yeah," he answered, "I'd say make a run for it."

Rick and Blair looked incredulously at each other but he voiced what they were both thinking. "That's it? 'Make a run for it'?"

"Hey," the guy defended, "my way's not as dumb as it sounds. You've got eyes on the outside here. There's one Geek still up on the tank but the others have climbed down and joined the feeding frenzy where the horse went down. With me so far?"

"So far," Rick answered with a heavy breath.

The radio guy continued on from there. "Okay, the street on the other side of the tank is less crowded. If you two move now while they're distracted, you stand a chance. Got ammo?"

"In that duffel bag I dropped out there, I got ammo and guns" Rick answered then asked, "Can I get to the bag?"

"Forget the bag, okay? It's not an option," Radio Guy replied. "What do you have on you?"

"Hold on." Rick checked the gun and ammo in his possession along with a grenade her got off the dead Military Walker before getting back on the radio. "My friend here has a compound bow with about a couple dozen arrows in the quiver. I got a Beretta with one clip, fifteen rounds."

Blair noticed how Rick didn't mention the grenade she saw him slip into his pocket, but did notice he referred to her as his friend.

"Make them count," Radio Guy advised them. "Jump off the right side of the tank and keep going in that direction. There's an alley up the street, maybe fifty yards. Be there."

Rick got back on the radio to say, "Hey, what's your name?"

"Have you been listening?" Radio Guy shot back. "You're running out of time."

Blair yanked the radio from him and said, "We can make introductions later. Come on!"

Rick took a deep breath to prepare himself before grabbing a compact shovel hanging on the wall in the tank. "You got my back?" he asked Blair, while he was indeed stalling.

"As long as you have mine," Blair answered honestly and gripped onto the arrow in her hand to get ready.

Rick took a final deep breath and opened up the tank's door. He quickly climbed out and hit the Walker standing on the tank with the shovel right in the head before jumping down.

Blair followed suit and quickly got her bow ready as they took off down the street. She fired a couple arrows into the heads of the nearby Walkers and snagged them as she ran by, not wanting to lose the limited ammo she had.

Rick took care of the others by shooting them with the Berretta as they ran and just about blew the head off the first thing he saw in the alley until the young guy cried out, "Not dead!"

Radio Guy urged them to get moving as they ran down the alley. Walkers were swarming from both ends and Rick got off as many shots as he could gets before running out of ammo. Radio Guy started climbing up the fire escape ladder outside the building with Blair right behind him and called down to Rick, "What are you doing? Come on!"

"Don't think about it, just do it," Blair said to Rick as she followed this guy they didn't know up to who knew where. If Blair thought about it then she'd be losing her mind. The only thing keeping her sane during this whole thing was _not_ thinking about the swarm of Zombies that were trying to eat them below.

Once they got onto the fire escape platform and off the ladder, Radio Guy said to Rick, "Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood."

Blair held onto the railing and took deep breaths as she looked at him. "You're the guy from the radio?" When he nodded she stood straight and moved so close to him that he backed up against the wall of the building. "I literally woke up in a world I don't recognize not even forty-eight hours ago," she seethed. "I am doing my best in a situation I've never been in before and dealing with things I didn't even think existed and you have the audacity to call me a dumbass?!"

When he stammered out a jumbled reply, Blair punched him right in the arm before pointing a firm finger at him. "No one calls me a dumbass."

Radio Guy turned to Rick with wide eyes as he rubbed his arm where she punched him.

Rick chuckled, saying, "Don't look at me. She warned you." He held out his hand, saying, "I'm Rick and this is Blair. Thanks for your help."

"Glenn," Radio Guy replied, shaking his hand. "You're welcome."

Blair looked down at the Walkers that seemed to be climbing up the ladder. "What the hell? Are they seriously climbing up the freaking ladder?!"

Glenn looked down and saw the swarm doing what Blair was afraid they were doing. "Looks like it." He turned around and looked up at the ladder that went all the way up to the roof of the building. "Bright side – It'll be the fall that kills us. I'm a glass half full kind of guy."

"I died in a fall before," Blair answered as she was the first to start climbing. "I didn't care for it very much."

Glenn's brow furrowed in a 'wtf' manner as he looked at Rick who simply answered with, "She says stuff like that. You'll get used to it."

* * *

Blair and Rick followed Glenn over the rooftop and down another ladder that led into a building, through the building to the outside and down a flight of stairs. On the way down, Glenn spoke into his radio, saying, "I'm back with two guests and four Geeks in the alley."

When they got down to the alley Blair notched her bow and fired but subconsciously aimed for and hit the heart.

"Aim for the head! Aim for the head!" Glenn frantically exclaimed because the Walker was getting closer to them.

"I'm used to hunting Vampires!" Blair shouted back. "Sue me!" With that said, she instantly fired another arrow and got the Walker in the head that time. Just when she was about to fire at another, two people came running out of a door in SWAT gear with baseball bats and started wailing into the Walkers.

Blair quickly got her arrows before following Glenn and Rick into the door those two came out of. A moment later the two came in and closed the door behind them.

"You son of a bitch!" a blonde woman shouted at Rick, aiming her gun at him, "I should kill you!"

Blair responded to that by shooting out the arrow she just used on the Walker and held it against her throat. "I just used this on that Puppy out there. One wrong move and the arrowhead will slice your throat _just_ enough to infect you."

"Andrea, chill," one of the SWAT people said to the blonde then said to Blair, "Little crazy lady, please take a breath."

"I'll take a breath as soon as she quits aiming that gun at my friend," Blair answered, reasonably enough.

Andrea looked like she was freaking out but raised the gun to show she wasn't going to fire and backed up. She watched as Blair returned the arrow to the quiver and said with tears, "We're dead, all of us. Because of the two of you!"

Rick moved closer to Blair as an attempt to keep her from doing something stupid, as he said, "I don't understand."

The SWAT guy guided Blair and Rick into the other room, saying, "Look, we came into the city to scavenge supplies. You know what the key to salvaging is? Surviving! You know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out, tiptoeing. Not shooting up the streets like it's the O.K. Corral!"

They were in the storefront now and one of the other guys said, "Every Geek from miles around heard you popping off rounds."

"You just rang the dinner bell," Andrea added in. "Get the picture now?"

They certainly did. Walkers were swarming on the glass doors, trying to get in. It reminded Blair of a scene from Dawn of the Dead but she refrained from saying anything about it. This was not the time to run off her mouth so she bit her tongue instead.

The group of them backed up because the Walkers were starting to break the glass doors. It was only a matter of time before the glass shattered completely, and Blair for one didn't want to stick around to find out what was going to happen next. Unfortunately for her, it seemed like Rick wasn't planning on going anywhere just yet.

Blair casually sidestepped and swiped a few bandanas from the kiosk beside her. You never know when you might need them. In Blair's experience there are three things that randomly come in handy – bandanas (or scrap cloth), shoelaces (or string), and duct tape.

"What the hell were you two doing out there anyway?" Andrea wanted to know.

"Trying to flag the helicopter," Rick explained.

"Helicopter?" one of the guys retorted. "That's a load of crap, man. Ain't no damn helicopter."

"You were chasing a hallucination," the other woman chimed in. "You were seeing things. It happens."

"Then Rick and I had the same damn hallucination," Blair shot back. "Because I heard and saw it, too."

No one responded to that and just focused on trying to get the hell out of there. "Hey, T-Dog," the third guy said to the other one, "try that CB. Can you contact the others?"

This caught Rick's attention. "Others? The Refugee Center?"

"Yeah, the Refugee Center," the other woman sassed back. "They've got biscuits waiting at the oven for us."

Blair waved her hand around in front of the woman, saying, "The sarcasm is strong with this one."

T-Dog tried the radio but was getting nothing. "No signal. Maybe the roof."

They all heard a gun go off at the moment, making Andrea practically whine, "Oh, no. Is that Dixon?"

"What is that maniac doing?" the other woman wanted to know and followed the others out of the shop.

"Come on," Glenn urged Blair and Rick. "Let's go."

Since they were in a clothing store, Blair snagged a flannel shirt off the rack, tied it around her waist and went after them.

* * *

The gunshots were still going off as the group of them made their way up the roundabout staircase that led up to the roof.

Blair shook her head with a scoff at the sight of one of their own shooting the Walkers below. "And you guys got mad at us for shooting off a gun?"

They ignored Blair and shouted at Merle Dixon, "What the hell are you doing, Dixon?"

"Hey!" he laughed back as he held onto his rifle. "You should be nicer to a man with a gun." Dixon laughed again. "Only common sense."

T-Dog was pissed. "You're wasting bullets we ain't even got, man! And you're bringing even more of them down on our ass. Just chill!"

Blair leaned closer to Rick and pointed towards Merle, saying, "I don't like him." That feeling grew tenfold as Merle continued talking crap about pretty much everyone in the group and acted like he knew it all.

Rick didn't like how things were progressing either and looked at Glenn in question. When Glenn waved his hands and shook his head to tell Rick to stay out of it, he did…for now anyway.

"Can I shoot him?" Blair asked Glenn, gesturing to her bow. "The Walkers won't even hear it."

"Shut up," Glen said to her in warning, knowing Merle would not react well if he heard her say that.

Blair held her hands up in a 'whatever' fashion but made sure to say, "The offer still stands. Just give me a signal." She touched her nose with a finger and pointed at him after saying that.

Blair tuned into the conversation when Merle called T-Dog the 'N Word'. "Did he just say that?!" She exclaimed just before T-Dog and Merle started going at it. Blair quickly set down the bow and quiver and rushed over when Merle started kicking T-Dog when he was down while shouting out that he was in charge now.

"Hey!" Blair shouted at Merle to get his attention and when he turned around, she punched him right in the throat before upper cutting his jaw and finally a roundhouse kick that knocked him to the ground.

Rick quickly intervened by cuffing Merle to a nearby pipe before he could retaliate against Blair.

Merle was still getting his bearings while Rick was taking his gun off his person and looked at Blair. "Who the hell are you?"

"Should I say 'Your worst nightmare'? Or is that too cheesy?" Blair replied as she moved some of her hair out of her face and turned to face the group who looked completely shocked. "What?" she asked like what she did was nothing because to her, it was. At their still present expressions, she waved a dismissive hand towards Merle. "Oh, please. I've dealt with worse."

While Rick was having a little 'chat' with Merle, Blair went over to the other part of the roof where she ditched her bow and arrows. She missed most of what Rick said to Merle, but when he used Merle's words about being nice to a man with a gun against him, Blair had to admit that she was impressed.

Suddenly Blair felt dizzy and needed to sit down. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. It almost felt like she was being pulled in two different directions at once until finally she felt complete again. Maybe the spell was wearing off? But if that was the case…then why was she still there?

Blair was pulled back in when she heard Rick's voice saying her name. "What? What happened?"

"You blacked out on me," Rick said in a worried tone as he checked to see if she had any injuries or blood coming from her ears or anything like that. "You alright?"

"I think the adrenaline wore off and revealed how tired I am," Blair answered like it was nothing and got to her feet with his help. "Did I miss anything?"

"The streets are too dangerous to move around," Rick explained as he made sure she was steady on her feet. "We're going down into the subbasement to find an entrance into the sewer."

Blair listened to what he said and nodded. "Okay, that's either a great idea or the worst one I've ever heard."

Rick's answer was simple enough, "We'll find out."

* * *

It was agreed that Blair would be the one to go down with Glen into the tunnel to scout it out. Rick and Andrea were going to keep watch over the Walkers in front and Jacqui would holler down to them if there was any issue. Glenn made this his plan because every time he went there alone things were fine and the first time he brought a group everything went to hell. Blair didn't particularly want to do down into the depths of the unknown but if it got them out the city then alright.

Before going to their designated jobs, Rick pulled Blair aside to ask, "You sure you up for this? If you black out again…"

"I won't," Blair assured even though she had no idea if she would or not. "I got the adrenaline pumping again. It's all good."

Rick placed a hand on her shoulder as he said, "Be careful."

"I'm always careful," Blair grinned. "And besides, I don't need to be the fastest runner in the group, I just need to be faster than the person I'm running with. And trip them if necessary."

"I changed my mind. I don't want her coming with me anymore," Glenn interjected after hearing what Blair just said.

Blair rolled her eyes as she went over to him, saying, "Don't get your baseball cap in a twist. I'm just kidding."

Glenn hoped she was telling the truth on that and led the way down the ladder. As Blair started climbing down after him, she said, "Don't even think about checking out my ass. I mean, I know it's great and all, but I can't have you distracted."

Glenn didn't even have an answer for that but he _did_ allow himself a quick second to take a look and he couldn't argue with her.

Once they reached the bottom, they turned on their flashlights and shone them down the tunnel they were supposed to venture down. "Where are the Turtles when you need them?" she muttered to herself as she side stepped around a rat with a shudder. "Ugh, I hate rats," she hissed.

"Same here," Glenn replied with a shudder of his own and kept on walking. After a little bit, he asked, "Where did you learn to do that up there? You know, with Merle."

"I've had lessons," was all Blair was going to say about that. She wasn't about to tell him just how many of her past lives were warriors of one type or another, so she just left it at that.

To change the subject, Blair said, "If the tunnel stays this big the whole way I'll be able to use my bow if we run into trouble."

"So you won't be tripping me then?" Glenn asked as he gave her a quick look.

Blair simply grinned in reply and didn't answer that question one way or the other.

This didn't sit with Glenn very well but he didn't say anything more about it. Mainly because he was worried as to what her answer would be. She was one terrifying lady and figured if anyone could survive in this world, it'd be her.

It wasn't long before they reached the sewer tunnel that was blocked by a wall of inch thick bars. "Think we can cut through it?"

"If we had a blowtorch or something, then sure," Blair replied as she looked at the bars. "I don't think that hacksaw I saw up on the roof is going to cut it."

A moment later the pair of them heard a crunching noise and shined their lights down to find a Walker eating a rat. Blair let out a bit of a shriek and jumped back when the Walker shot its arm through to try and get them. Upon realizing the sound she just made, she pointed firmly at Glenn, saying, "Don't tell anyone I just did that."

"I've already been punched by you once," Glenn replied as he watched her drive one of her arrows into the Walkers head, "I don't intend to repeat the experience."

Blair pulled the arrow out of the Walker's head with a bit of a grunt before smiling at Glenn. "Smart man. You're learning."

* * *

Blair, Glenn, and Jacqui caught up with Rick and Andrea in the store just as the Walkers broke through the first set of glass doors.

"What did you find down there?" Rick asked as he stood ready with his gun.

"Not a way out," Blair answered, wishing the scenario was different.

Andrea pointed out the obvious a she said, "We need to find a way. And soon."

This brought them back up to the roof to scope out their surroundings. Rick pointed out the construction site down the way and told them they always keep keys on hand. That was shot down when it was pointed out that they'd never get past the Walkers. Rick retorted to that by saying they needed a distraction like when he and Blair got out of the tank.

Blair jumped in there, saying, "Well, they are drawn by sound aren't they?"

Glenn confirmed that. "Yeah, they're like dogs – hear a sound and they'll come."

"What else?" Rick wanted to know.

Morales answered that. "Besides hearing you, they see you, smell you, and if they catch you they eat you."

"They can tell us by smell?" Rick was surprised to hear that.

"Can't you?" Glenn incredulously asked in reply.

"They smell dead, we don't," Andrea added in. "It's pretty distinct."

"Okay, so we make ourselves smell dead, too," Blair interjected like it was nothing. At Rick's expression, she laughed, "Did I just say something good? You're not looking at me like I'm insane anymore." Blair then made a fist in triumph. " _Progress!_ "

* * *

They went back down into the shop and Rick plucked rubber gloves and other stuff off the shelves as Glenn said, "If bad ideas were an Olympic Event this would take the gold."

Morales happened to agree. "Just stop, okay? Take some time to think things through."

"How much time?" Rick wanted to know. "Because they've already broken through one set of doors. That glass won't hold forever."

Blair accepted the trench coat Rick handed over to her and grimaced a bit. "You know, it's just starting to sink in what we'd have to do in order to smell dead."

"It was your idea and you just made that connection?" Rick chuckled as he handed Morales a trench coat as well.

Blair slipped on the coat as she admitted, "Ideas vomited out on adrenaline don't always have a full set of a details."

* * *

Blair's soul has existed for a thousand years, being reborn again and again and not once did she ever take part in or witness what they did with the Walker. Not even her psycho serial killer Olivia life went this far. Suffice to say, Blair _never_ wanted to think about splattering Zombie guts all over herself ever again. She even admitted more than once that she thought she was going to hurl. Thankfully thought, unlike Glenn, she didn't.

"It's official," Blair voiced aloud as Rick draped some intestines over her shoulders, "I hate this reality."

"You and me both," Rick concurred then turned to the others, asking, "Do we smell like them?"

They all agreed, that oh, yeah, they did.

"If we make it back, be ready," Rick said to the group.

T-Dog asked, "What about Merle?"

Rick answered that by tossing the handcuff key at him, which he caught.

Blair tried to think about anything else but what they were doing and what they had on themselves but she was starting to fail. "If we're doing this then let's do it now or else I'm gonna pull a Glenn 2.0."

They left the building soon after that and Blair's idea was put to the test. There were a couple of Walkers in the alley and if they made it past them then there would be a chance they would make it past them all.

"Ladies first," Glenn said with a wave of his hand that held the crowbar.

Blair, glaring at him, gripped onto the baseball bat in her hand and took the lead. She had her bow and arrows with her, too, but doubted she'd be able to use them with the guts covered gloves on. Leaving them behind wasn't an option – she wasn't going to trust her weapon with anyone.

Things were going good so far. They were sniffed by the Walkers they past but other than that, they paid them no mind. Blair was actually surprised this was working so far and hoped it would continue to do so. Now came the big test – the three of them crawled under the bus that was blocking the alley and went into the street that was swarming with Walkers. Fooling a couple of them was one thing – would they really be able to fool a couple hundred?

Blair stayed close to Rick and his axe as they Zombie walked their way down the street. She didn't hum it aloud, but that didn't stop her from hearing Michael Jackson's Thriller going on repeat in her head, and couldn't believe out of everyone song she'd ever heard in all her lives _that_ was the one that got stuck.

The sound of thunder started roaring overhead which likely meant that a storm was coming. Blair didn't want to speak because that would draw attention to them, but if it did start to rain and it washed off their guts then they would be in some damn trouble.

The walk to the construction site was the longest and most terrifying walk she'd ever taken. Okay, it was the _second_ most terrifying walk she'd ever taken but she wasn't going to get into that. What made things worse was it started to rain and rain hard.

The Walker blood and guts they lathered themselves with were starting to wash away and already attention was being drawn to them. Blair wished like hell she had a Katana like she had as Kaia in the past, but she'd have to make due with what she had – a baseball bat. There were too many for her arrows if she managed to get the gloves off – something she didn't want to risk anyway. Besides, she likely wouldn't have a chance to get the arrows back anyway.

All the Walkers around them were starting to take notice that they weren't like the rest of them. Glenn was starting to freak out a bit. "The smell's washing off, isn't it?"

"No, it's not," Rick replied and when a Walker roared at him he said, "Well, maybe," before cracking the Walker's head open with the axe.

"Run!" Rick shouted and started whacking at the Walkers in their way with Blair and Glenn following suit.

They were close to the construction zone now and ran like hell. Upon reaching the fence, they threw their weapons over to the other side before climbing over it. Once safe – for the moment – on the other side of the fence, they frantically stripped off their Walker-Wear.

Blair stood next to Rick with her bow at the ready while Glenn ran off to get the keys to the truck. The Walkers started climbing over the fence and Rick shot them one by one to keep them back.

Glenn got the keys to the truck and as they ran for it, Blair fired off a shot because one of the Walkers made it over the fence and started running for them. Blair hated leaving that arrow behind but she knew she had to get her ass in the truck, so that's what she did.

"Go! Go! Go!" Glenn exclaimed as Rick started up the vehicle because more Walkers were getting ready to get over the fence if not knock it down completely...which they did.

"I hope you an drive as well as you can shoot!" Blair exclaimed as Rick backed up the truck before speeding off. They were going in the opposite direction of the Department Store where the others were, and this made Blair ask, "Am I missing something or are we abandoning then?"

"We're not abandoning them." Rick made that abundantly clear.

"Then what…" Blair didn't get a chance to finish her question before her eyes rolled in the back of her head and she blacked out.

* * *

When Blair's eyes opened again she was in Bonnie's living room and she gasped. "What are you doing?!"

"I'm stopping the spell," Bonnie explained. "You're convulsing like crazy!"

"Don't stop the spell!" Blair shouted as she still felt a part of her in the other reality. "Let the spell run its own course, Bonnie. Promise me!"

Bonnie didn't think this was a good idea but clearly this was important to her, so she stopped the chant to end the spell, hoping Blair knew what she was doing.

* * *

Blair coughed when she woke back up in the truck beside Rick but Glenn was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Glenn? What happened?"

Rick answered the questions as he received them. "I hotwired a car for Glenn to draw the Walkers away from the store with its alarm. You blacked out again. Blair are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine," Blair replied at The Look, she sincerely said to him, "What's causing me to black out shouldn't happen again any time soon. You have my word." There was a part of her that couldn't believe she had a chance to get out of this reality and bailed on it. Then again, she could believe it. Blair gave Rick her word that one way or another she would help him find his wife and son. She couldn't leave before doing that because even though this wasn't her true reality…it was his.

Rick gave her a bit of a skeptical look as he but didn't say anything else about it, other than, "You black out again, you're not going on any more outings. Got it?"

Blair saluted him. "Clear as crystal, Partner." She looked back and saw Jacqui, Andrea, Morales, and T-Dog in the back of the truck but didn't see Merle. "Where's the asshole?"

T-Dog took a deep breath before saying, "I dropped the damn key."

Blair laughed loud upon hearing that before settling back into her seat. "Good." As they made their way safely out of the city, Blair started to hum Thriller, realizing it was a song that _none_ of them recognized based off their expressions. Zombie lore really didn't exist in this reality, iconic songs included. It seemed she had a lot to teach them and just as much to learn. Who knew how long she was going to be there now that she put her life into the hands of the spell, but one thing was certain it was going to be a _thriller._

* * *

End Episode 2


	3. Uh oh

Blair looked out the window as Rick drove the truck along the road. She only turned to him when he asked, "Why did you say 'good'?" This question confused her a bit. "What are you talking about?" Blair asked in reply.

Rick took a deep breath before reminding her. "When you heard Merle got left back there, you said 'good'. Why would you say something like that?"

"Guys like him don't deserve to live," Blair replied as she looked back out the window. "He reminded me of someone I used to know – a really bad guy who treated me worse. They both deserved what they got."

Morales couldn't help but overhear this conversation since he was sitting right behind them and chimed in with, "It's best not to dwell on it. Merle got left behind, it happens. Nobody is gonna be sad he didn't come back…"

Blair turned around and looked at Morales when he trailed off like that. "Why do I feel like there's a 'but'?"

"An 'except', actually," Morales countered and explained himself. "Nobody is gonna be said he didn't come back _except_ maybe Daryl."

"Daryl?" Rick asked, looking back at him real quick.

"His brother," Morales answered.

Blair let out a heavy breath as she ran her hand over her face. "Oh, hell," she said to herself. She knew first hand – a thousand times over – what it was like to lose someone you loved. That kind of grief could make a person do something crazy, and crazy mixed with a Zombie Apocalypse was not a good combo.

She was pulled from her thoughts at the sound of a car alarm approaching and soon saw Glenn speeding past them in a cherry red sports car, whooping as he went. Blair chuckled at the sight and smiled, "Looks like you made his day."

* * *

A little while later, they pulled into the camp behind a van that was already parked there. Blair looked at Rick a bit skeptically, wondering what it'd be like for them. She didn't get a chance to voice her concerns, though, when Morales clapped his hand on their shoulders, saying "Come meet everybody."

Blair slumped in her seat a bit as Rick pinched the bridge of his nose. "Think I could stay in here? In case you haven't noticed, I don't really play well with others."

Rick sighed heavily, looking at her. He'd swear that she was more scared meeting the people than she was when they dealt with the Walkers. "Come on," he urged and opened the door to get out.

Blair groaned and grabbed her things before getting out as well. She slammed the door behind her and walked around the front of the truck to stand with Rick. The way he was looking at someone in the crowd caught her attention and a moment later, it clicked. He was looking over at a little boy and his mother. "Is that...?"

"Oh my god," Rick cried and ran over to his son that kept calling out for him.

Blair put her hand over her mouth and cried at the reunion between Rick, his son, and his wife. Her heart went out to them and was so happy for Rick. She sniffled and wiped her eyes when Glenn came over to her and said, "You're such a softie."

Blair pushed his arm a bit, saying, "Shut up. No, I'm not. I'm pretty tough...like a diamond."

Glenn chuckled at that. "More like beef jerky in a ball gown."

Blair's eyes widened when he said that and held her fist ready to punch him, but he ran off with an "Oh, jeeze!" before she had the chance. This made her lower her hand and laugh before turning back to the happy reunion.

As much as she was happy for Rick, she was a bit confused because this was why she chose to stay in the spell. Blair gave Rick her word that she'd help him find his wife and son and he had, so why did the spell keep her there? Not knowing the end game unnerved her a little bit, but staying here was the choice she made so now it seemed she'd just have to accept her new reality.

* * *

That night, Blair sat around the campfire of embers with Rick, his family, and his friend Shane who also survived, along with everyone else in the group. Rick was telling them what happened when they woke up at the hospital and said, "Disoriented is the best way to describe it. At least I was. Blair here was cracking jokes and talking about Vampires right off the bat."

"I handle traumatic experiences differently than most people," Blair answered as she poked the embers with the stick in hand.

"Yeah," Glenn concurred, "with punching."

Blair responded to that by punching him in the arm.

Glenn pointed at her with a 'you see what I mean?' face, believing his point had been proven.

"I think I can speak for Blair as well in saying that we felt like we'd been plucked out of lives and put somewhere else," Rick continued on.

Blair scoffed a chuckle at that. "I haven't heard a truer statement yet." He had no idea how literal that was for her and didn't choose that moment to say it.

Rick allowed himself to chuckle a bit as well before continuing. "I admit I thought I was in some sort of coma dream that I would never wake up from or that Blair was a hallucination or something."

"Maybe I am," Blair added in with a wiggle to her eyebrows. "Maybe y'all drank the same Kool-Aid and are having a shared hallucination that is me."

"She's weird," Carl said as he turned back to look at his father who was sitting behind him.

"She's been called worse," Rick smiled at Blair as he held onto his son.

Things were quiet for a moment before Carl said, "Mom said you were dead."

Rick could understand that completely. "She had every reason to believe that. Don't you ever doubt it."

Blair's brow furrowed a bit as she caught the look Lori shared with Shane across the fire. She didn't want to stoke the flames – no pun intended – but she had a gut feeling that something was going on there and needed to take a walk before her tongue ran away from her.

"I'll be back," she said to the group as she stood and brushed off her pants.

"Where are you going?" Rick asked in a concerned tone, not wanting her to wander too far off.

"Not far," Blair answered and grabbed a nearby flashlight before walking off, only to stop when Shane said, "We don't go off alone."

"Well, I want to be alone. If you got a problem with that, bite me," Blair sassed back and went off before anything else could be said to her.

"She's got a mouth on her," Lori stated with a bit of a scoff.

Rick sighed a bit. "Ah, she grows on you."

Lori moved closer to Rick and rested her head on his shoulders. "Just as long as she doesn't grow on you too much."

Blair, of course, missed this whole exchange and headed for the treeline. She sat down against one of the trees with her bow and quiver beside her. The small, glowing campfires were within her sight so she didn't turn on the flashlight. It was cold that evening so she pulled off her leather jacket to put the extra flannel shirt from around her waist on, and returned it for warmth.

Her thoughts kept going back to Merle Dixon – not that she regretted the fact that he was left behind, but how his brother was going to react to the news. Blair leaned her head against the trunk with a heavy sigh because she knew what she felt and was willing to do when Elena was killed. If Merle's brother felt even a little bit of that then they were going to have a problem.

Blair's eyes shot open and she grabbed onto an arrow when she heard someone approaching her. Seeing it was Glenn with his hands up made her relax a bit. "What do you want?"

"I'm here to offer a platonic sleeping bag," Glenn replied, keeping a safe distance in case she decided to punch him again. "You need a place to crash and I got room in my tent. I promise no funny business."

Blair thought he was being so adorable and had to mess with him a little bit. She leaned forward, asking, "And what if I want there to be a little funny business?" At his dumfounded expression and jumbled answered, she laughed, "I'm just messing with you, Glenn. I'm pretty used to sleeping outside but I will accept your offer."

Glenn looked at her thoughtfully as she got up and came over to him. "I'm never gonna be able to figure you out, am I?"

"I'm a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in an _awesome_ rack." Blair patted his back in an encouraging manner. "Good luck with that."

Glenn chuckled a bit nervously and led the way to his tent.

Blair shook her head with an amused chuckle and followed after him, honestly looking forward to getting some sleep.

* * *

At some point in the night Blair started having a nightmare. The images filtering through her sleeping mind were enough not only to make her scream in her nightmare but in her sleep as well.

Blair frantically awoke to Glen shaking her awake and she scrambled back away from him, trying to make sense of her surroundings because for a minute she wasn't sure where she was.

"Hey, just breathe, okay?" Glenn said to calmly. "Nothing's wrong."

Blair was still shaking even as Rick came into the tent and asked what was wrong. It seemed she woke up just about everyone in the camp. "I – I'm sorry," she said with a shaky voice and forced herself to steady it. "Nightmare."

Rick moved closer to Blair and hugged her, saying, "You're gonna be alright, Partner. You're not alone."

Blair nodded in understanding as she hugged him back. Knowing Rick was on her side meant the world – especially since she didn't know how long she was going to be in this one and that was her own fault. Did Blair make a mistake in telling Bonnie to let the spell run its course? She still wondered about that and wondered even more how much longer she could handle her new reality.

* * *

Somehow Blair managed to fall back asleep after Rick left and stayed asleep even when Glenn got up and left the tent. She got up and dressed and exited the tent, hoping no one would bring up her screaming the night before. Using one of the bandanas she snagged, she tied back her hair and walked over to the others to see if there was something she could do to help.

She didn't get a chance to ask anyone what could be done because a guy with a crossbow and a lot of squirrels in his possession started calling out for Merle. "Oh, hell," she said to herself, "here we go."

Shane caught up with Daryl, saying, "Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you."

"About what?" Daryl wanted to know.

Shane rubbed his face before answering. "About Merle. There was a problem in Atlanta."

How Daryl was looking at the group made Blair uncomfortable so she casually and as subtly as possible, crept around to get closer to Rick.

Daryl paced a bit as he asked, "He dead?"

"We're not sure," Shane answered honestly.

Daryl didn't like that answer very much. "He either is or he ain't!"

Blair saw the look on Rick's face and just knew he was going to say something. She grabbed onto his arm to keep him from doing it but let him go when he gave her The Look.

Rick walked over to Daryl as he said, "No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it."

Daryl looked this new guy over with a scoff. "Who are you?"

"Rick Grimes," Rick answered, introducing himself.

Daryl mocked his introduction. "Rick Grimes, you got something you want to tell me?"

Rick didn't beat around the bush. "Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there."

Daryl looked and felt like he was going to lose it. "Let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!"

Rick's answer was to the point. "Yeah."

Daryl officially lost it. He threw the string of squirrels at Rick and charged for him. When Rick threw him to the ground, Daryl pulled out a knife. Blair notched an arrow just in case, but Shane intervened with Daryl by helping Rick get the knife away and putting Daryl in a choke hold – despite Daryl saying that chokeholds were illegal.

Rick convinced Daryl to have a calm discussion about the situation so Blair returned the arrow to her quiver and listened. T-Dog explained what happened with the key, and Daryl demanded to know where Merle was so he could go get him. None of this surprised Blair until Lori spoke, saying that Rick would show him.

Rick confirmed that by saying, "I'm going back."

Blair couldn't believe what she was hearing! Rick actually wanted to go back and get that Merle guy?! It was insane and she made sure to tell him that after she grabbed his arm, said "Excuse us," and dragged him away from the group.

"Rick, seriously, you aren't really considering going back to get that asshole are you?" Blair hoped he wasn't but based off the look on his face, he was.

Rick answered her question with one of his own. "What if it was your family up there?"

Blair spoke with her hands a bit as she said, "That question is invalid because I don't have any family here." At his Look, she said, "I'm not lying! I haven't lied to you yet so why would I start now?"

That clearly didn't work, so Rick took a different approach. "What if it was me? What if I was the one that was stuck up there?"

Blair's face dropped at even the thought of that. "That's not fair."

Rick knew he had her now.

Blair crossed her arms and scoffed. "Fine, I'll come with you to save that asshole, but I officially don't like you."

Rick chuckled as his draped his arm over her shoulders in a brother fashion and led her back to the group. "Now, Blair, you say you haven't lied to me yet so why are you going to start now?"

* * *

Blair sat in the truck, waiting for Rick to say his goodbyes and explain his actions to his loved ones. She had no one to say goodbye to since Rick was taking point and even Glenn was coming along. To say that she hated this idea was an understatement but if nothing else, they had a chance to get the bag of guns back and with it the Walkie-Talkie Rick was gonna use to contact Morgan. Rick gave his word to try and make contact and if anyone knew about keeping their word, it was Blair.

Blair was pulled from her thoughts with a jolt when Daryl came into the front and blared on the horn to get Rick moving. "Did you miss the part about there being a Walker up here today?!" Blair shouted at him since she heard about what happened. "Are you _trying_ to attract more of them?"

"Why don't you just shut up and mind your own damn business," Daryl shot back with a dismissive wave of his hand.

Glenn who just got into the driver's seat and heard this exchange saw Blair's face and thought aloud "Uh, oh."

Blair climbed out of the front seat and went into the back where Daryl stood. She got right up in his face, saying, "You're pissed, I get it, so I'm going to let your attitude slide this time. But if you ever give me lip like that again, I will kick your ass just like I did your brother."

Daryl laughed at her words. "A puny little thing like you kick my brother's ass? I'm calling your bluff, you damn Chink."

Glenn, who wished he had a bowl of popcorn to munch on in that moment, said again, "Uh, oh."

Blair's face hardened before she punched Daryl in the gut, then across the face, and when he dropped to his hands and knees, she kicked him in the ribs. Blair was about to wail into him more but stopped when Rick climbed into the back of the truck and got her out of there.

"You're gonna pay for that!" Daryl shouted at her after spitting some blood out of his mouth.

"It's your own fault you didn't believe me!" Blair shouted back and got out of Rick's grip to get back into the truck and stand up against Daryl again, saying, "And for the record, I'm part Korean. If your ignorant, racist ass is going to insult me then at least have the decency to get it right."

Daryl took a deep breath and stared her down until finally he scoffed and waved at her dismissively again before walking away from her.

Blair held her hands out in front of her like she was strangling him then jumped out of the back of the truck to return to her seat. As she walked past Rick she held up her hand. "Don't even say it. Your Look says it enough."

"Oh, I'm going to say it," Rick said as he followed her. "And you're going to listen."

"You're not my dad, I don't have to listen to you," Blair said in a childish manner as she tried to open the truck door, only to have him shoot out his hand to shut it.

"I'm not trying to be your dad," Rick answered, hoping to get through to her, "but I am your friend – your _Partner_. We're stuck with each other, remember? So I'm pretty sure that gives me the right to lecture you when you clearly need one."

Blair rolled her eyes at this but gave in. "Fine. Lecture on the way."

Rick opened the door for her, saying, "I knew you'd come around."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Blair sarcastically replied as she got in and slammed the door.

Daryl, standing in the back of the truck, leaned against the wall with his arms crossed as he looked at Blair sitting in the front seat. She must have felt his eyes on her or something because she turned around to look at him. When she did, he spit out the last of the blood in his mouth and turned away.

Glenn started up the truck and looked at Blair to say, "I think I'm starting to figure you out."

"Oh, really?" she asked, quickly looking back to Rick as he loaded up his revolver with the ammo Shane gave him.

Glenn nodded. "You punch when you care and kick ass when you're offended."

Blair didn't answer that one way or another and again turned back to Rick to say, "How about that lecture?"

Her lack of answer just made Glenn think he was right, so he put the truck into gear and started driving back towards the city.

* * *

Rick lectured her almost the entire time they drove about keeping her temper in check and 'playing nice with others' and all that jazz. She listened to every word he said, even though there were times she didn't appear it. At the end of it, though, she never thought she'd be glad to arrive in the city.

Glenn parked the truck on the tracks and said to the group consisting of himself, Daryl, Blair, Rick, and T-Dog, "We walk from here."

"Thank the flying spaghetti monster." Blair said that like she was eternally grateful an at Rick's raised brow, she added in, "The lecture was great and all, but honestly I'm starting to prefer this possible deadly situation over hearing another word."

Rick scoffed with a smile and shake to his head. "You would, wouldn't you."

Blair nodded, "Yep," and jumped out of the passenger side to start trekking it down the tracks into the city. As they went through the break in the fence, Blair said to Rick, "For the record, if I die on this trip, I'll never forgive you. You got that?"

Rick gave her a bit of a salute, using her words upon her. "Clear as crystal, Partner."

* * *

When they went through a break in the fence leading right into the city, Rick asked, "Merle first or guns?"

"Merle!" Daryl shouted back. "No question. We're not even having this discussion."

"Clearly we are," Blair retorted and looked to Glenn. "You know this city better than us, so what do you think?"

"Merle is closest," Glenn answered as they sprinted along. "The guns would mean doubling back. Merle's first."

Upon hearing that, Blair looked at Daryl. "See? You're getting what you want and no threat of blood had to be spilled to get it."

"Are you trying to bait me, girl?" Daryl shot back in question.

"I have a tendency to push people's buttons," Blair explained in a nonchalant manner. "I highly recommend you dead with it. And for the record, don't call me 'little girl'. I haven't been a little girl for a _long time_."

Daryl scoffed. "All woman huh?"

Blair was going to make a reference to having quite a few male past lives but knew that would be misinterpreted so instead she said, "There are so many things I could say to that right now, but I'm gonna save them for another time."

Glenn raised his brow a bit at that and looked Blair over trying to figure out what she meant but stopped when she said, "Eyes off my ass, Glenn." He quickly averted his eyes. "Yes, right. Okay."

Rick had previously decided that he was going to keep an eye on Blair to look out for her but it wasn't until that moment he realized that he'd have to keep watch over her around the living as opposed to the dead. Honestly, he wasn't expecting that but fully intended on doing it.

* * *

Things so far were going good but Blair wasn't going to allow herself to be optimistic about that. When they made it back to the department store there was a Walker present. Daryl was making his way around with his crossbow to take it out, but Blair beat him to it. He just lifted his crossbow to take aim when Blair's arrow flew right past him and got the Walker right in the head.

An impressed look flashed over his face for a second. When she walked past him to get her arrow back, he said, "You're just full of surprises, aren't you?"

"Damn right," Blair repleid as she snagged a shirt off the rack to wipe off her arrow. "If you start being nice to other I just might let you in on them." Not for a second did she think that was going to be worth anything to him, but she said it anyway.

Glenn cut into…whatever they were saying to each other right then. "This way. Come on."

The group followed Glenn up the stairs and didn't run into another Walker as they went. Blair had a bad feeling about this – it was just too easy again which ultimately meant that something bad was right around the corner.

At the top of the stairs for the roof access, T-Dog used the bolt cutters to get the chained door open and Daryl kicked it open, calling out, "Merle! Merle!"

When they reached the area of the roof where Merle was cuffed, he wasn't there. All that remained was a bloody hacksaw, the cuff hanging from the metal, and Merle's severed hand.

Daryl felt like he was losing it and kept crying out, "No!" repeatedly because of what happened to his brother.

Blair for the first time since coming to this place was at a loss for words. Seeing Daryl act like this reminded her how she felt when Elena was killed in the Ritual. In spite of what she thought about the Dixon brothers, it killed her to see another person go through that kind of grief.

Blair couldn't watch or listen to this anymore and turned around to go back downstairs.

"Where are you going?" Rick asked, feeling like there was a story behind Blair's reaction.

"Not far," was all she said in reply and went back into the stairwell. She went down the stairs until the first landing and slid down into a sitting position. Blair put her head down and held onto it as she cried because she felt utterly and completely alone. How could she have been so stupid as to give up what might have been her only chance to go home? How could she have willingly chosen to turn her back on everything in her reality in order to stay in this one?

Once Blair felt she had cried enough, she took a deep breath and wiped away her tears. "I'm stronger than this," she said to herself. "I'm stronger than this." Blair pulled herself to her feet, made sure all her tears were gone and went back onto the roof.

Acting like she hadn't just cried her eyes out about something she couldn't tell them, she put her hands on the back of her hips and asked, "What's the plan now?"

* * *

End Episode 3


	4. Worth it

Blair acted like she hadn't just cried her eyes out about something she couldn't tell them. She put her hands on the back of her hips as she looked at the group and asked, "What's the plan now?"

Daryl, being in his heightened emotional state about his brother, aimed his crossbow right at T-Dog's head which was answered by Rick pulling out his revolver and doing the same to Daryl.

Blair popped her lips at this turn of events. "Not _quite_ what I had in mind."

"I won't hesitate. I don't care if every Walker in the city hears it." Rick was completely serious and composed with his words.

Blair went over to Rick and wiggled an arrow at him. "How many times am I going to have to point out that these are _so much quieter_ than bullets?" Even though he wasn't even looking at her, she could tell he was giving her The Look, so she turned her attention to Daryl who was still holding his crossbow in front of T-Dog's face.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," she sighed to herself then spoke to him. "Daryl, listen, I know what it's like to love someone and have something _horrible_ happen to them. My sister was killed right in front of me and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I wanted revenge, but that doesn't help _anything_. And right now, if you take your revenge, you're going to die for it. Are you ready to die today? You better make sure you are, because in case you didn't know, my Partner here is a damn good shot." For a bit of levity, she added in, "Not that he could really miss right now anyway. Since, you know, his gun _is_ pressing against your temple and all."

Daryl shot Blair a look she couldn't figure out then lowered his crossbow which resulted in Rick lowering his weapon as well. After giving T-Dog one last glare, he turned to Blair and gestured to the bandana that was tied in her hair. "Can I have that?"

Blair didn't know what he wanted it for but slid it out of her hair and gave it to him.

Daryl opened it up and set it down beside Merle's hand to wrap it up in. As he picked up his brother's hand, he said, "I guess the saw blade was too dull for the handcuffs. Ain't that a bitch?" He wrapped up the hand and went over to Glenn to stick it into his backpack. Yeah, Blair had a bag with her too, but he doubted she wouldn't put up a fight about it – unlike Glenn.

Daryl went on to trying to figure out how things went down with his brother. "He must have used a tourniquet – maybe his belt. Be much more blood if he didn't." With blood on the brain, Daryl followed the trail to another door on the rooftop.

Blair notched an arrow and started to follow, but stopped when Glenn put his hand on her arm to get her attention.

"Were you serious or just saying whatever to keep Daryl from shooting T-Dog?" After hearing Blair's story about seeing her sister get killed right in front of her, he wanted to know if it was true or not.

Blair let out a deep breath before answering. "It's true. Granted she was my best friend who was like my sister, but yeah…it's true."

Glenn felt horrible for her having to go through something like that. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Blair answered as she walked away to catch up with the others and said, "you weren't the one who killed her."

T-Dog caught up with her and Glenn when they followed Rick and Daryl down the set of stairs the door led to and arrived just in time to hear Daryl call out, "Merle! You in here?!" Upon hearing how loud that echoed around them, Blair muttered, "If he's not, I sure as hell hope there aren't any Walkers either."

* * *

The blood trail led them into an office building. So far they only met up with one functional Walker which Daryl took out with his crossbow before Blair could. In the neighboring room there were two dead Walkers on the floor with a bloodied wrench beside them. Daryl was impressed to see this. "He had enough in him to take out these two sons of bitches. One handed, too. Toughest person I know, my brother. Feed him a hammer and he'd shit out nails."

"Anyone can pass out from blood loss," Rick countered, not wanting Daryl to get his hopes up too high. "No matter how tough he is."

Daryl scoffed at this. "Damn pessimist."

"He's not being pessimistic," Blair chimed in. "He's being realistic."

Rick looked back to her, saying, "Why am I getting a strong sense of dejavu?" He knew why but took that moment to tease her a little bit.

"When you've lived a thousand lifetimes, you don't even notice the dejavu anymore." Blair ignored the odds looks she was being given again and went to check out the other office.

Daryl was the only one to say something about it. "Is she crazy or something?"

Rick honestly didn't know one way or the other, but he still didn't think she was crazy. "Or something."

* * *

They continued to follow Merle's blood trail and now it brought them down into the lower level of the building. "Merle!" Daryl called out, looking around for his brother.

Blair scoffed at him incredulously. "Dude, we're not alone here. Remember?"

"Screw that," Daryl replied. "He could be bleeding out." Mocking her tone, he added in, "Remember?"

In this lower level of the office building there was a lab, and in the lab there were some lit butane burner things, along with metal press of some sort with some…uck on it. Blair winced a bit at the sight of that. "Please tell me that's not what I think it is."

"What is it?" Glenn wanted to know.

"Skin," Rick answered, not beating around the bush about it. "He cauterized the stump."

"Told you he was tough," Daryl interjected. "Nobody can kill Merle but Merle."

Blair made a gagging noise before saying, "There's a fine line between tough and insane."

Before Daryl could react to Blair's words, Rick said to him, "Don't take what Merle did on faith. He's lost a lot of blood."

"Yeah?" Daryl scoffed as he went over to the window. "That didn't stop him from busting out of this death trap."

Blair followed Daryl to the window and scoffed a 'holy crap' chuckle. "He left the building?"

Glenn walked up behind Blair to get a look at the window and the fire escape beyond that Merle used to get out of there. "Why the hell would he do that?"

"Why wouldn't he?" Daryl retorted. "He's out there alone, as far as he knows, doing what he's got to do. Surviving."

"You call that surviving?" T-Dog did not agree. "Just wandering out in the streets, maybe passing out? What are his odds out there?"

"No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks," Daryl shot back before getting up in Rick's face. "You couldn't kill him." He then turned to face Blair and stared her down as well. "And neither could you. Ain't so worried about some dumb dead bastard."

To keep things from blowing up between them again, Rick turned the attention back on him by saying, "What about a thousand dead bastards? Different story?"

Daryl gave Blair another look she couldn't figure out before turning back to Rick. "Why don't you take a tally? Do what you want. I'm gonna go get him."

When Daryl tried to walk away, Rick pushed back saying, "Daryl, stop."

"Get your hands off me!" Daryl shouted back. "You can't stop me!"

"Does self-preservation mean _nothing_ to you?!" Blair practically hissed at Daryl. "I mean, oh my god, why not sound off a bull-horn and let every Walker in the building know where we are?"

Glenn guided Blair away from Daryl and Rick, saying, "How about you take your own advice about self-preservation and walk away?"

Blair was about to shoot something at Glenn but caught Rick's Look and slumped her shoulders as she let Glenn guide her away without argument.

Once Glenn guided her over to the far end of the lab, he took his hands off her shoulders. "Please don't punch me for that."

Blair sighed heavily. "I won't. You were right, I was pushing too many buttons."

Glenn's eyes widened in surprised when he heard her say that and took the opportunity to say, "I'm sorry, could you repeat that? Did you just say I was right?"

"It'll never happen again," Blair replied and waved her hand around his face, saying, "And wipe that look off your face before I punch you for it."

Glenn chuckled, "Ohhhh, it'd be so worth it."

Blair lightly backhanded him instead, with a bit of a grin on her face then sighed deeply. "I can't help thinking if I was in Daryl's shoes and it was my sister…I'd be doing the exact same thing."

Glenn didn't like the sound of that but he could see it. "Without the racist remarks, I hope."

"Of course," Blair answered with a 'pfft' and wave of her hand. "But they would be replaced by a lot of swearing and calling people idiots."

Glenn waved his hand like she did with a 'pfft' and said, "Of course."

This time Blair did punch Glenn in the arm before going back over to Rick to find out what the plan was.

Glenn rubbed his arm and watched her go, chuckling, "So worth it."

The plan was they were going to search for Merle a few blocks _after_ getting the bag of guns. Now _this_ was more along the lines of what she thought was going to happen the last time she asked what the plan was. Okay…not exactly but at least they had an idea and ideas almost always led to a plan.

* * *

Blair listened to Glenn's idea accompanied by his marker drawn map on the floor and thought he was insane. He wanted to go _alone_ and get the bag of guns. "Dude, no."

Rick agreed with her on that. "You're not doing it alone."

"Even I think it's a bad idea and I don't like you much," Daryl interjected.

Glenn was quick to defend his plan. "It's a good idea, okay, if you would just hear me out. If we go out there in a group we're slow, drawing attention. If I'm alone, I can move fast. Look." He placed a paperclip on his drawn-out map on the floor. "That's the tank, five block from where we are now." He then put a piece of paper near the clip. "That's the bag of guns." Moving his hand to a nearby part of the map, he added in, "Here's the alley I dragged you and Blair into when we first met. That's where Daryl and I will go."

"Why him?" Blair asked the same time Daryl asked, "Why me?"

"No offense Blair, but you have a habit for aiming for their heart first and head second." That's the reason he gave her anyway, when really he didn't want to put her solo into a dangerous situation.

"Am I seriously never going to live that down?" Blair asked in an 'unbelievable' tone. "I told you - I'm used to killing the Vampire variety of the walking dead – not the Walker variety."

Rick was getting used to saying to people, "She says stuff like that. You'll get used to it," whenever anything like that came out of her mouth. Given the faces on those present, he had to say it then, too.

Glenn, moving on like Blair didn't just say something insane, placed another item on the map. "Daryl will wait in the alley here while I run up the street and grab the bag."

"You got the rest of us elsewhere?" Rick wanted to know, and Glenn had an answer for that.

"You, Blair, and T-Dog will be in this alley here." He placed an eraser on the map.

Rick noted the location and questioned it. "Two blocks away? Why?"

"I may not be able to come back the same way," Glenn reasoned. "Walkers might cut me off. If that happens, I won't go back to Daryl. I'll go forward instead, all the way around to that alley where you guys are. Whichever direction I go, I got you in both places to cover me. Afterwards, we'll all meet back here."

Daryl actually looked a bit impressed by Glenn's plan. "Hey, kid, what'd you used to do before all this?"

Glenn's answer was, "Delivered pizzas. Why?"

Blair laughed at that. "Dude, that explains _so much_." After a moment, she added in, "Gotta admit, it's a good plan _but_ I vote to make a change."

Rick already had a feeling he didn't like where this was going. "Which is?"

Blair was prepared for Rick's Look when she said, "I go instead of Glenn."

Rick, Glenn, and even Daryl objected to that all while T-Dog was just sitting back and observing. "No way," Glenn interjected through the objections. "You don't know the city."

"I have a better memory than probably all of you combined, so I know where I'm going and where to go next," Blair countered. "And besides, I'm fast _and_ I have a weapon in case things go sideways where I can't get to either alley. So, I vote me."

"That's not happening," Rick firmly replied. "Glenn has got this covered."

Blair patted Rick on the back saying, "I'm going _instead_ of Glenn. You can lecture me later."

* * *

"For the record, I don't like this plan," Daryl said to Blair as he climbed down the ladder into the alley before her.

"You liked it when Glenn was the runner and I was the one with Rick and T-Dog," Blair countered as she skipped the last few rungs and jumped to the ground. She pulled another bandana from her pocket and tied back her hair as she said, "If it's easier for you to process, the plan just went from one Korean to another."

Daryl's brow furrowed for a second. "I thought he was a Chinaman."

Blair rolled her at that. "Better than calling him a Chink." With her hair tied back and bow in hand, she went through the metal gate fence into the street. Blair stayed low as she scurried along the sidewalk, hiding behind the cars as she went. There were definitely Walkers around but nowhere near as many as there were when she went on the little stroll with Rick and Glenn to the construction site.

When Blair reached the bag of guns there was a Walker within a few feet from her so she quickly notched an arrow and got it right in the head. After quickly getting the arrow back, she grabbed the bag of guns and Rick's hat then headed back to the alleyway. Since she couldn't exactly fire and arrow with the gun bag in hand she put it over her shoulder and held the arrow in hand in case she needed to drive it into a Walker's head instead.

Blair got back to the alley with no more issues with the Walkers, but it was the living that were a problem now. There were two guys beating up Daryl on the ground. She threw the bag to the side and shouted, "Get away from him!" Blair kicked the knees out of one of them but that resulted in her getting cracked in the head by the other. She cried out in pain when she fell the ground and got kicked in the ribs.

The guy pulled Blair up by her hair, making her cry out again and try to fight back but she was disoriented, and it didn't get her very far. "Let me go!" she shouted followed by, "Daryl!"

Daryl, who was also a bit disoriented by his own beating, heard her call out his name. "Blair!" he called back and got to his knees to fire an arrow from his crossbow at one of the guys, but they still pulled a screaming Blair through the gate and into a car that sped up to them.

Daryl ran to the gate as the car sped off, "Give her back you sons of bitches!" He had to close the gate because the Walkers were drawn to all the shouting and were closing in now.

With the gate closed, he turned around to the younger guy that was with the others who took Blair. He was about to start wailing into him for answers but Rick stopped him. "I'm gonna kick your nuts up in your throat!" he shouted at the teenager.

Glenn saw the bag of guns but didn't see Blair and instantly thought the worse. "Where's Blair? Where is she?!"

"They took her!" Daryl shouted back. "That little bastard and all little homie friends. I'm gonna stomp your ass!"

Rick could see the presence of Walkers growing outside the gate so he said to T-Dog and Glenn, "Take him to the lab. Go!" So they grabbed hold of the teen and took him along with Rick and Daryl right behind them. Getting to safety was step one, finding Blair was next. They wouldn't be any good to her if they were dead or Walkers themselves.

* * *

Blair was knocked unconscious on the way to wherever the hell she was being taken and came to inside what looked like an old factory of some sort. Finding her hands and ankles were bound behind her back with duct tape really made her wish she had her claws right then.

The leader of the group, Guillermo, approached with an interested look on his face. "I hear you've got some fire in you. What else you got?" He reached out to touch her face and she tried to bite him in reply. "Feisty little thing. I like that."

"If you value your life, I suggest you let me go right now," Blair seethed at him, lunging forward a little.

"You really aren't in the position here to be making any demands," he chuckled back. "But, out of curiosity, why should I let you go?"

Blair smiled in mock sweetness. "If you let me go now, I'll let you live. If you wait until my Partner comes to get me, then I will kill you myself. I've killed the living before, I'll damn well do it again if I have to."

Guillermo laughed at her again, not taking her seriously. "Tape her mouth. I'm sick of hearing her voice. Bag her, too. Then we'll see how tough she is."

Blair tried to get away from getting duct tape put over her mouth and a burlap bag over her head, but she couldn't get far and thus they were put in place.

The whole time Blair was bound and bagged, she tried to get out of the duct tape. She hoped that even the slightest bit of her super strength would kick in but there was nothing supernatural about her in this world, so that wasn't going to be any help.

* * *

She kept at it for...she didn't know how long before being pulled to her feet and lifted up onto someone's shoulders. Blair had no idea where she was being taken but she knew they were going upstairs. Finally, she was set down and steadied by two men before the bag was taken off her head. Down below she could see Daryl, Glenn, and Rick with weapons in hand talking to Guillermo. They were clearly outnumbered, and she had no idea at the moment how she was going to get out of this, but she saw Rick's expression and knew he was asking her to trust him…so she did.

After being brought down from the rooftop, the bag was taken off her head once again and this time the duct tape was cut from her wrist and ankles before being ripped from her mouth. "Stay here," Guillermo said to Blair before taking off.

It took Blair a moment to realize where she was because she felt like she'd just been dropped in the middle of a nursing home. There were elderly people all around her sitting at tables and such. "Where the hell am I?"

"You watch your language, child," an elderly woman said to her. "Children these days have no respect."

Blair was at a loss for words – literally. "I need a drink," she said aloud and was given a paper cup of water by another elderly woman with a sweet smile. "Not quite what I had in mind, but thanks."

"We're all out of the hard stuff, honey, but we make do," she laughed and guided her over to a table where another woman and man were seated. "You play bridge, honey? We could use a forth."

"Once upon a lifetime I did," Blair replied as she sat, honestly starting to think she was hallucinating all this by getting hit in the head too hard or lack of oxygen from the sack or something.

"It's like riding a bike," the man interjected in a wise tone. "You never forget."

"I'm surprised you even remember what a bike is," the other woman added in, making everyone at the table – Blair included – get a good laugh from it.

* * *

Blair was still playing bridge with them when she saw Guillermo lead in Rick and the others. "Excuse me," she said to them and ran right over to Rick, hugging him tight. "Is this real? Are you real?"

Rick hugged her back and said, "This is your reality."

Blair laughed in relief as she looked at him, Glenn, T-Dog, and Daryl. "I thought I was hallucinating all this or something. I mean, one second I'm bound and gagged and the next I'm playing bridge. What the hell is going on here?"

"That what I'm about to find out," Rick told her and looked over to Glenn, saying, "Don't let her out of your sight," before going over to Guillermo to have a word with him.

Glenn nodded in an 'of course' manner. "You got it."

Blair pressed her finger into Glenn's chest, saying, "This does not give you permission to look at my ass."

"No one has permission to look at her ass," Rick said in a protective manner then cocked his head for them to follow. "Come on. You're going to want to hear this."

* * *

When Guillermo brought the group to his office and told them that the staff of the nursing home left the elderly there to die, along with how he was the custodian of the place and stayed with Filipe – one of the nurses – Blair almost couldn't believe it. At one point, she cut him off saying, "Hold on. You're the nice guys yet bound me, taped my mouth shut, and put a sack over my head?"

"Part of that was for show for your friends here," Guillermo waved his hand to gesture to Rick and the others. "But mostly it was because we believed your threats. You got the eyes of a fighter and we did not doubt you'd fight your way out of this place. Bringing you to the old people seemed like the safest bet to keep that from happening."

"What about the others of your crew?" Rick wanted to know. "Who are they?"

"Some of the Vatos trickle in to see their parents, grandparents. Sometimes they see how things are and decide to stay," Guillermo explained. "Good thing, too. We need the muscle. The people we've encountered since things fell apart, the worst kind – plunderers, the kind that take by force."

"That's not who we are," Rick countered, wanting him to understand that.

"How was I to know that?" Guillermo asked in reply. "My people got attacked and you show up with Miguel hostage – appearances."

T-Dog sighed, "I guess the world changed."

"No," Guillermo corrected. "It's the same as it ever was. The weak get taken. So we do what we can here. The Vatos work on those cars, talk about getting the old people out of the city. But most can't even get to the bathroom by themselves, so that's just a dream. Still, it keeps the crew busy, and that's worth something. So we barred all the windows, welded all the doors shut except for one entrance. The Vatos, they go out, scavenge what they can to keep us going. We watch the perimeter night and day and we wait. The people here, they all look to me now. I don't even know why."

"Because they can," Rick answered and started to hand over half the guns they had.

Blair understood why Rick was giving over the guns but there was something missing she wanted back. "Where's my bow?"

"We're keeping that," Guillermo answered. "My girl Alli knows how to use it – been looking for one for her. Sorry, chica, but you're not getting it back."

Blair felt like she was going to lose it, and Rick could see this. He quickly said to her, "Don't do anything rash, Blair."

"That weapon means something to me, Rick. It connects me to a part of my past that I actually liked." Blair couldn't make herself any clearer than that without explaining it all – which he wouldn't believe anyway.

Things were going well this far and Rick didn't want things to go south because of the bow and arrows. "I give you my word I'll replace them one day. Alright? You have my word."

Blair hated it but she stopped putting up a fight about it. She clearly wasn't happy when she threw up her hand in a 'whatever' way and stormed out of the office.

Glenn was going to go after her but stopped when he saw the look on Daryl's face. To Glenn, Daryl looked like he was debating whether or not to go after her himself. Glenn had no idea what to make about that, but he realized he didn't care for it very much.

* * *

When the group finally took their leave, Daryl spotted a box of weapons and noticed something inside. While the others were heading for the exit, he took that moment to check it out. Daryl pulled out a pair of black metal Nunchucks that had pink dragons etched into them.

Guillermo saw he was checking out their weapons cache and told him where they got those. "Found them at a pawn shop we scavenged recently. No one here knows how to use them."

"I'm taking them," Daryl said decisively and slipped them into his belt, making sure his shirt was pulled down to cover them.

Guillermo didn't put up a fight about it since they were keeping the compound bow and half their guns, but he did want to know something. "Why?"

"I know someone who might be able to put them to use," was all Daryl said about that then walked away to catch up with the others.

Guillermo didn't need to be told who those were for, he had a strong suspicion.

* * *

The group of them didn't meet any trouble as they walked back to the tracks. Glenn saw how Rick was still wearing the Sheriff's hat and joked, "Admit it, you only came back to Atlanta for the hat."

"Don't tell anybody," Rick joked right back.

Daryl still was fuming a bit about the weapons giveaway and made his opinion known then. "You gave away half our guns and ammo. For what? A bunch of old farts that are gonna die momentarily anyhow. Seriously, how long do you think they've got?"

"How long to any of us have?" Blair asked in reply. "Seriously, how long do you think we've got? No one knows what's gonna happen, especially in this world we live in now. There's no estimated timetable for how long someone is going to live – not anymore."

Their conversation was cut short when they turned the corner and found their truck was not where they left it. "Please tell me we took a wrong turn," Blair hopefully pleaded but knew that wasn't the case.

"Where the hell is our truck?" Daryl asked, followed by Glenn saying, "We left it right there. Who would take it?"

Rick's answer was simple enough. "Merle."

Even Daryl had a bit of concern with that information. "He's gonna be taking a bit of vengeance back to camp."

Blair did not like the sound of that one bit –especially since Rick's wife and son were there. "Then I suggest we run." She was about to start running when the others did, but was stopped but Daryl.

"Here," he said to her, handing over the Nunchucks. "I grabbed these for you."

Blair tentatively accepted them because she was shocked. "Why?"

Daryl shrugged. "They're pretty. Tough. Like you." Before she could react to that, he took off running after the others.

Blair wanted to process this but she sure as hell didn't have the time for it. Picking up her pace double time, she ran to catch up with the group before she ended up getting left behind.

* * *

It was dark as they ran up the road in the mountain leading to the camp. Blair kept hoping they'd get there in time but who knew how much of a head start Merle had on them in the truck. She paused with the others just for a second when they heard gunshots. This time, she was the first to take off running and made it in the lead because she didn't have guns or tools or anything like that weighing her down like the others did. Blair didn't even stop when Rick called out for her to. If there was something she could do to help them then she was damn well going to do it.

When she got to camp, she was expecting to see Merle raining hell on them but it wasn't Merle…it was Walkers. Blair held onto one of the Nunchucks and swung around the other before tapping into a skill from the past and did her thing. She wailed into the Walkers one right after the others, smashing their brains in like pudding. Her goal was to find Rick's family and make sure they were safe.

After taking down another Walker, she spotted them by Dale's RV. She was about to run over there but heard her name being called out in warning by Glenn. When Blair turned around there was a Walker right behind her, ready to bite. She didn't even have a chance to react before seeing Daryl smash its head in with the butt of his shotgun. "Dude…Thank you," she said to him, still catching her breath.

"Don't mention it," was his answer before taking off to deal with the last couple of remaining Walkers.

Glenn was panting in fear and worry when she rushed over to Blair. "Are you okay? Were you bit? Anything?" Even thought she was wearing her leather jacket he still looked her over to make sure.

"I'm fine," Blair informed but he still looked worried so she placed her hands on his shoulders and looked him square in the eyes. "Dude, I'm fine."

Glenn heard her and nodded in understanding. "Good…good."

Blair could see that he was freaking out so she hugged him, hoping that would get him to calm down a little bit. It worked because he hugged her back and his breathing slowed. After a couple more moment, she pulled from the hug to look for Rick and spotted him with Lori and Carl. A lot of people were lost from the attack but Blair was so relieved that Rick's family wasn't among them.

Blair turned around when she heard Andrea crying out for her sister Amy who was bitten by the Walkers. It made her flash back to when Elena was killed and she couldn't take it. Blair moved away from Glenn and walked as far off as she could without putting herself at risk. This time, Daryl did follow after her.

"What are you doing going off alone? There could be more out here. You stupid or something?" Daryl was about to ream into her more about it but stopped when he realized she was crying.

"Leave me alone, Daryl," Blair shot back, trying to keep her voice from breaking.

Daryl stepped closer saying, "I'm not going to comfort you if that's what you're worried about. But I am going to stand here and make sure you don't get your ass bit by a stray Walker."

"My hero," Blair sarcastically replied, not looking at him because she was still crying.

Daryl turned his head to look at her when he said, "I'm keeping a tally." It surprised Daryl how seeing Blair crack a smile for a moment made him feel. It was confusing as hell and he wasn't sure he liked it very much and yet…he wanted to feel it again.

Blair wiped her tears away with another spare bandana—she knew those would come in handy – and finally turned to face him. "You do that. But if you ever try to be my 'hero' again, I'll punch you." She made sure to put air quotes around the word hero.

Daryl scoffed an unimpressed scoff at her when she said that, all the while thinking it'd be worth it.

* * *

End Episode 4


	5. Daryl it is

Blair ventured a little ways from camp to watch the sun rise on the new day. The night before was filled with so much death, grief, and pain but one wouldn't believe it when the sun rose above the horizon in such a peaceful way. Blair took advantage of this peace and slowly moved in the ways of Tai Chi she learned so long ago. Unfortunately, her peace didn't last forever.

Memories of her long past and recent past and events from the night before filtered into her mind. She pulled the Nunchucks from her belt and started practicing with them in such a forceful way, wanting to scream but knowing she couldn't. After last night screaming would be the last thing anyone would want to hear.

When she heard footsteps approach her from behind she whipped around and lowered her weapon upon seeing it was Rick. "You get anything from Morgan on the radio?" Good morning probably would have been a better greeting than that, but she wasn't in the mood to do anything but cut to the chase at the moment.

Rick shook his head in reply. "No, nothing. I hope he at least heard the message and doesn't try to get into the city." With his hands on his hips – in what she mentally referred to as his 'Sheriff's Stance' – he stepped closer to her and asked, "Are you okay?" They hadn't really been able to talk since the Walker attack.

There was a lot more he wanted to ask her about as well – Like what was going on between her and Glenn and what was up with her and Daryl for example, but he didn't think this was the best time for that kind of talk. Rick wanted to keep her safe and that didn't just apply to Walkers. He wanted her to understand that, but he was already starting to learn when to approach her on things and when not to.

Blair actually laughed at his question because there really wasn't a good way for her to answer it. Finally, she threw up her hands and admitted, "I've been through worse, Rick. Believe it or not."

"I believe you." It was true, he did believe her. There was something in her eyes that made her words true to him. He knew his next words probably wouldn't mean much, but he had to say them anyway. "I'm sorry about you losing your bow, but it seems like you've found a replacement."

"My bow was far more practical, but these will do until I find something else." Blair slipped the Nunchucks back into her belt and crossed her arms.

"Ah, yes, I gave you my word to find you a replacement." That's what Rick figured she was talking about anyway.

Blair held her finger up in a 'hold that thought' way. "Actually, I have an amendment to that promise."

Rick looked a bit perplexed as to what that could be. "I'm listening."

"I want a sword instead," Blair instantly replied. "Preferably a Katana." Katanas were her number one preferred weapon after all. They'd saved her ass in the past and felt it'd do the same in this reality.

Rick thought she was kidding and chuckled because of it, but soon realized she wasn't. "A sword? Seriously?" At her nod, he asked, "How do you know how to use all these weapons?"

Again that was a loaded question but she wasn't going to lie to him. Granted she couldn't tell him about her past lives, but there was a way to get around that. "Ailia's father taught me how to hunt with a bow, Kaia's father taught me how to fight with a sword, and a martial arts academy I attended taught me how to fight with these." She placed her hand on the Nunchucks upon saying that.

Rick shook his head and chuckled again because even though she answered his question, he still didn't seem to know that much more about her. "Alright. It's a deal. If I find a sword before a bow my debt is paid."

Blair gave him a pair of 'thumbs up'. "I have complete faith in your abilities. They haven't failed me so far."

"I don't intend to ever fail you, Blair. I hope you know that." Rick was genuine with his words. She woke up alone in this world and he wanted to do whatever he could to make sure she knew she wasn't going to live in it alone.

Blair waved her hand in a 'whatever' way upon hearing that. "Save that for your family, Rick. They need to hear it more than I do." Blair appreciated hearing it _a lot_ but still, she didn't want him to misplace his words.

Rick draped his arm across her shoulders to lead her back to camp, saying, "You are family, Partner. We're stuck with each other, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," Blair grinned, feeling better. "How could I have forgotten?"

Rick shrugged and sighed as they walked, "I have absolutely no idea."

* * *

As they walked back to camp Rick thought about how easy it was to feel better around her. He'd felt so horrible about the attack the night before but all that seemed to fade away as soon as he saw Blair. Maybe it was because of how – as she put it – 'eh, whatever' about this world of theirs and she seemed to always manage to lighten the air. Or maybe it was something else? He didn't know for sure but one thing was certain – He was going to make sure she survived whatever was thrown her way.

When they got back to camp, the others were dealing with the aftermath of the Walkers from the night before – taking care of those that were bitten and putting the Walkers onto the fire.

Blair saw that Andrea was still with her sister Amy in the same position they were in the night before. "She hasn't moved, has she?" Blair looked at the those who congregated nearby in question.

Lori shook her head. "She won't even talk to us."

"It's not real for her yet." Blair sounded like she knew what she was talking about, because she did. "When it's real, she'll talk." She left Rick's side to see if there was anything she could say to Andrea.

"How could she possibly know that?" Lori scoffed, still not caring for Blair very much.

"She lost her sister, too," Rick answered, not caring for Lori's tone but didn't say anything about it. "Killed right in front of her. I'm pretty sure if anyone can understand what Andrea is going through, it's her."

Meanwhile, Blair made an attempt to speak to Andrea. "Andrea…" Blair started to say but Andrea whipped around and aimed her gun at her.

"I know how the safety works," Andrea said to her in a threatening manner. "And you don't have a tainted arrow to threaten me with this time."

"I'm sorry," Blair genuinely said to her and backed away to show that she'd leave her alone.

Blair went back over to the others just as Daryl was saying 'the dead girl' – as in Amy – was a time bomb. "Andrea will take care of it," she assured them. "Like I said before – It's not real for her yet. She needs to see what Amy becomes – that the sister she loves is gone. She needs to know there's no hope of getting her back. Just give her that time. Andrea will do what needs to be done."

"What makes you so damn sure about that?" Daryl demanded to know.

"Because that's what I had to do. I lost a sister, too. Remember?" Blair didn't say anything else and walked away because this was getting to be too much to handle again. Walkers she could deal with but a sister losing a sister was just something that cut her too deep.

Blair crossed the camp over to Glenn because she could see he was having a hard time with everything. "Hey," she rubbed his arm in a comforting way, "how are you holding up?"

"We lost so many of our people." Glenn's voice broke a little bit and he sniffled back some tears.

"You guys shouldn't have come after me," Blair said out of nowhere, but believed it. "You should have just taken the guns and come back here. Things would have been different."

Glenn had no idea that's what was going through her mind and it surprised him to hear it. "There's no way we wouldn't have gone back for you. This isn't your fault, Blair."

"Isn't it?" Blair kept thinking back to the spell. Was this whole reality created because of the spell or did it already exist? She didn't know and that was getting to her as well. Everything was getting to her. "I just can't help thinking none of this would have happened if I never woke up in that hospital room."

Before Glenn could say anything, she cleared her throat and said, "Wow, I'm not usually this self-centered. There's so much other stuff going on – more important stuff. I'm sorry." Blair said, "I'm sorry," again and walked away before any more word vomit came out of her mouth.

As Blair left the camp again, she said, "I'm so stupid," to herself and didn't stop walking.

Daryl threw another Walker onto the pile and watched as she went off like that. "That girl's just asking for trouble going off alone again," he muttered to himself, still not sure he cared so damn much.

* * *

Blair sat on the hill and looked out onto the skyline of the city beyond. She still couldn't get over how much peace and turmoil she felt at the same time. Being here in this place, this…this reality was making her feel like she belonged there. How messed up was that?

Mystic Falls was her home – her life, and yet the longer she spent here the more it felt like her life as well. She closed her eyes and thought back to something Lexi said to her so long ago – 'You were given this life because you're strong enough to live it'. Was Blair strong enough this time around? She didn't feel like it. She felt like she was going to break down at the drop of a hat. But maybe she was strong because she moved through it, she kept going and would keep going. Something was making the spell keep her there and she wasn't going to give in – she couldn't give in – until she knew what it was.

Blair was pulled from all these thoughts and more when she heard a gun shot coming from camp. Since more didn't follow, Blair knew what it was about – Andrea did what needed to be done. It reminded her of losing Elena, so Blair closed her eyes and whispered to herself, "I'm so sorry, Ellie. I miss you so much."

She heard mention before that it was Amy's birthday coming up and Blair wished her mind hadn't gone to that. Blair and Elena shared a birthday and the last one Elena was alive for was their seventeenth…that was three years ago. Blair 'celebrated' her twentieth birthday before coming to this reality. In fact, another birthday without Elena there to share it with was the tipping point of her wanting – no, _needing_ her escape.

Blair cleared her thoughts and got to her feet and turned around when footsteps approached her. Seeing it was Lori surprised her. "What's up?"

"We're burying the dead," Lori answered. "You want to be a part of it or not?"

"I don't belong there," Blair answered based off her own opinion. "I didn't know them."

Lori crossed her arms and sighed. "Look, I may not like you very much, but you fought to protect the camp last night. In my book that means you belong there."

As Lori walked away, Blair asked, "Why exactly don't you like me? Just curious since we've hardly said two words to each other since meeting."

Lori didn't answer Blair's question and kept on going. And when she heard Blair call out to her, "Well, FYI, the feeling is mutual!", Lori only paused for a second before continuing on her way without looking back.

* * *

Blair did go up with the rest of the camp where the dead were to be buried. She'd seen so many people buried over her lifetimes it was overwhelming. Every memorial was different and yet always the same – the dead left the living behind to live on without them.

Blair walked over to the pile of bodies in the back of the truck and started to hum a song from long ago that was used to bid the dead a farewell into the afterlife. As she hummed a song she honestly thought she had forgotten, she wondered if there was an afterlife in this reality. If you weren't turned into a Walker or killed after becoming one, then what? Was there something here like the Other Side in her reality or did they simply cease to exist? Normally Blair wasn't as morbid as this but everything just seemed to keep hitting her at all angles, including things she never really dealt with in the past. Maybe that's why the spell was keeping her there? – Maybe it was keeping her there until she was ready to return to her reality?

The odds of Blair ever finding out were slim to none, so she believed, so she decided then and there to try and not think about it. Blair had just gone with the flow before with her life, Tara being a perfect example of that. The point being, she'd done it before so she can do it again. Only problem this time…It was just so damn hard.

* * *

After the burial, Rick wanted to talk to Lori alone and wanted to make sure that someone kept an eye on Carl so he asked Blair to do it. Blair was a bit hesitant to agree at first because she wasn't sure what Carl thought of her – in case Lori's distaste for her was passed onto her son, but since she could see how important it was to Rick she agreed.

Presently, Blair sat on the ground across from Carl trying to think of something to say. "So…" Blair began to say then asked, "…do you like stories?"

Carl, who up until that moment hadn't said a word to her since he still wasn't too sure about her, was intrigued. "What kind of stories?"

"Let's see…uhm…" Blair laughed, "Okay, this is awkward because my mind literally just blanked on every story I've ever known." She could see Carl was cracking a smile at that so she went on with it. "I'm serious!" Blair waved her hands over her head, saying, "Seriously. Nothing. I got nothing up here."

Carl smiled again and chuckled at her, "I don't believe you."

Blair tapped her lip in thought then said, "Well…I _may_ have one but I'm not sure if you'd like it."

Carl shrugged in a nonchalant manner. "I'll listen."

"Okay." She sat up straighter and put her hands on her knees before beginning a story she knew all too well because it was her own. "Once there was a young woman in a small village. Her hair was as brown as a bear's fur with a smile that could warm the hearts of those around her. This woman was loved by two men, and while she loved them both in return, it was not by her choice. She loved the wolf with every fiber of her being but the witch couldn't allow such a union. The evil witch cast a spell upon the woman and took away her love for the wolf and placed it inside the human man. The spell was done in vain, for it wasn't long before the human had become a monster.

This monster stalked the young woman like a predator would their prey. She begged and pleaded, but he heard no words. The monster grabbed hold of her and took her life with one bite. The wicked witch tried to bring the woman back to life because the monster was her son and she knew how he loved the maiden. This spell worked…in a way. The maiden was brought back to life, but in the body of another. What was meant to be a gift, turned into a curse. The maiden lived many lives for many centuries. Every life filled with love and loss...some more than others."

Blair stopped when Carl's face scrunched up in an odd way. "Not so good?"

Carl shook his head. "Not really. I was hoping for a happy ending."

Blair sighed a bit when he said that because she hadn't reached the ending yet. "If my story gets a happy ending, I promise you'll be the first to know."

* * *

Blair sat a little bit aways from the unlit campfire with the group while she waited for Rick and Shane to get back from checking out the surrounding area for Walkers. With a knife she borrowed from Dale, she started whittling a long branch to give it a sharp head. It wasn't what she'd like to have, but it was better than nothing in case the Nunchucks weren't usable.

"Where did you learn to whittle like that?" Daryl asked as he set down and overturn bucket and sat across from her. He picked up one of the branches in her pile and started whittling away with his own knife.

"I've picked up a lot of things over the years," was Blair's reply to that, and for kicks she added in, "I'm also more or less fluent in a variety of languages, I can hunt, track, dance ballet, I have midwifery knowledge, and I can fly a helicopter."

Daryl shook his head with a scoff because he didn't believe her. "You're so full of shit."

Blair put the final touches on her walking stick-spear-thing as she said, "I'm pretty sure the last time you didn't believe me I proved you wrong by kicking your ass. I feel like a broken record, but here it is again – I tell the truth more often than people think. It's not my fault if you don't believe me."

Nothing else could be said between them because Shane and Rick were back. Shane called over for them to join the group because he wanted to address everyone at once. If Daryl had anything to say to Blair, he didn't even try and got up before she did.

Blair let out a deep breath because her exchanges with Daryl were just another thing she couldn't figure out. And once again she'd have to put attempting to do it on the back burner because she wasn't about to miss what was going to be said.

When she joined the group she returned the knife to Dale and turned her attention to Shane. She knew about Rick's plan to go to the CDC to try and save Jim who was bit by a Walker and Shane's counter plan to go to some military base a hundred miles away. Of course she sided with Rick but it wasn't her decision to make. Maybe Shane's little speech here would let them know if a decision had been made.

Shane looked around to make sure everyone was present – everyone except for Jim because he was in Dale's Winnebago suffering from the Fever from the Walker bite – then began to say what he wanted to tell them.

"I've been thinking about Rick's plan," Shane started to say but took a moment before continuing. "Now look, there are no – there are no guarantees either way. I'll be the first one to admit that." He looked across the group to Rick. "I've known this man a long time. I trust his instincts." Now he looked at the others in the group. "I say the most important thing here is we stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning. Okay?"

Blair was the first to raise her hand and say, "I don't know about the rest of you, but I vote for Rick."

She wasn't the only one to agree with him. The majority ruled and so they would be heading out in the morning.

* * *

That night, while everyone else was sleeping, Blair sat around the campfire looking at the flames. She couldn't sleep for the life of her. The dreams – the nightmares were too much for her. Either they were of events from her own reality or from this one. Suffice to say, she'd rather be awake than try to sleep.

When Glenn randomly woke up and saw Blair wasn't at the other side of the tent, he grabbed a blanket and headed outside with it. Oddly enough it didn't surprise him to see her sitting around the campfire. "Can't sleep?" he asked as he draped the blanket over her shoulders and sat down beside her.

"Thanks," she said for the blanket and nodded, "Can't sleep. My mind hates me tonight."

"With all the stuff you spew out, does it ever like you?" he teased and with a chuckle.

"You're lucky I'm too tired to punch you," she said as she nudged him. Blair saw how thoughtfully he was looking at the flames so she asked, "How are you feeling?"

"It sucks," Glenn admitted. "And I'm terrified."

Blair scooted closer and rested her head on his shoulder. "Me too. And if you tell anyone I said that, I'll kick your ass."

Glenn chuckled and wrapped his arm around her. "I would think something was wrong with you if you didn't."

Blair rolled her eyes before closing them. She felt comfortable enough in that moment to let her tiredness take over

It didn't take Glenn long to realize she'd fallen asleep. It made him feel pretty good that his presence gave her enough peace so she could finally get some sleep.

Neither Glenn nor Blair realized it but they were being watched. Daryl – who just back to camp after checking the perimeter – spotted them sitting together by the fire. Seeing them sitting together like that made Daryl's blood boil. He wasn't sure what pissed him off more – the fact he reacted like that or because he still didn't get why.

* * *

Morning came and everyone was packing up the camp. Blair felt awkward around Glenn and did her best to avoid him as she helped out. So much was going on with her and in case he read too much into her falling asleep on his shoulder, she just didn't want to deal with it. Granted she could have just been paranoid about him reading too much, but either way she'd rather just talk with him later.

Blair was gathering up what little she had when Daryl walked by her with snark, saying, "Get lucky last night?"

She had no idea where that came from. "Excuse me?"

Daryl tossed a bag into the truck he was drive in the caravan before answering her. "You and Pizza Boy looked pretty cozy around the fire."

Blair laughed incredulously at his words. "I don't even know what to say to that – other than it's none of your business."

Shane interrupted whatever was going on between them and looked from one to the other before saying, "We're short on space, so I was going to have Blair ride with you but…"

"No," Daryl cut him off before he could say anything else. "She can ride with me." He walked off before Blair could refute the decision.

"Oh, so I don't get a choice in who I ride with?" she asked Shane with crossed arms and a scoff.

Shane crossed his own arms, saying, "There's room in my vehicle if you'd rather."

Blair's face hardened at the mere thought of it. "Daryl it is." As weird as things were, she'd choose riding with Daryl over Shane in a heartbeat.

* * *

Blair looked out the window of the truck as Daryl drove down the road, following the caravan. Every once and awhile she'd feel his eyes on her but whenever she turned to look back, his eyes were on the road. Finally, she had enough of it. "Whatever you're thinking, just say it. I'd rather have a blow-out than sit and stew."

"What makes you think what I have to say would result in a blow-out?" Daryl asked curiously, looking at her for a moment before returning his eyes to the road.

"Past experience," Blair replied as she leaned her head back against the seat. "At least one third of my conversations either end up in an argument or someone getting punched…or both."

Daryl allowed himself a chuckle when she said that. "Now that I believe."

"So are you going to tell me or what?" Blair wanted to know. "I'm going to keep pestering you until you tell me." She said that in a sing-songy voice and when that didn't work, she added in normally, "Look, either you tell me or we start playing some cheesy road-trip game because I'm done sitting here in silence."

Daryl was not going to tell her what was going through his head right then so he gave into her other option. "I spy with my eye…"

Blair cut him off, exclaiming, "Seriously?!" At his crooked smirk she actually laughed and waved her hand, saying, "Carry on."

He felt like he got a point over her in whatever this was and went on with their ridiculous game of I-Spy until Dale's Winnebago in the lead broke down and brought the caravan to a stop.

They all got out to see what the case was and Dale informed them that the hose in the Winnebago was more duct tape than hose at this point and he was out of duct tape. Shane spotted something in the distance. Thinking it was a gas station he took a couple people with him to drive ahead and investigate it. Before they left, Blair said, "If there's any string or bandanas grab them for me will you?"

Shane looked at her oddly before saying, "Sure," in a tentative manner.

"Scarp cloth, string, and duct tape are three things you never know might come in handy." Blair didn't feel the need to justify beyond that and thankfully she didn't need to because Jacqui came rushing out of the Winnebago telling them Jim was getting worse. Blair took that distraction to slip away for a bit of space until they figured out what was going to happen next.

Shane and the others came back with stuff that should fix the Winnebago's hose at least long enough to get them to where they needed to go. Along with that, he tossed Blair a plastic bag that had a few bandanas and a pack of hair ties. At her odd look at the hair ties, Shane said, "They didn't have string and Dale gets first dibs on the tape."

"Works for me," Blair answered as she opened up the pack of hair ties. If nothing else she could at least tie her hair back better than she did with the bandana.

Her attention was then turned to Rick when he came out of the Winnebago and told them that Jim wanted to be left behind. The fever was getting to him badly and he knew his end was near. Blair walked away before she could hear the end of this because another death wasn't something she could deal with.

"Where are you going?" Rick asked as she walked away because he was worried about her.

"Call me a bitch if you want to, but I'm taking part in whatever this is. I'm out." Blair shoved her newly acquired items into her messenger bag before getting into Daryl's truck, slamming the door behind her.

* * *

While Rick and the others were giving their respects to Jim, Blair tied two French braids in her hair. She couldn't just sit there and do nothing so she did it to distract her. That and it was a sure way to keep her hair out of her face. Blair was contemplating finding a way to cut it thinking long hair wasn't the best thing to have in this apocalyptic world. When she realized she was thinking about hairstyles, she rolled her eyes with a scoff to herself and just closed her eyes. If she could manage to get a little more sleep then the better off she'd be.

Blair was jolted awake when Daryl got into the truck and closed his door behind him. "Winnebago working?" she asked while rubbing her eyes.

"Yep. This is your last chance to say anything to Jim," Daryl answered waiting to see what she was going to do before starting up the truck.

"I didn't know him and he didn't know me," Blair reasoned. "There's nothing I could say to him to make anything better."

"Alright," Daryl left it at that and followed the caravan when it started driving away.

Blair took a deep breath before turning to him. "I'm not an ice bitch, if that's what you're thinking. I've just had it with all the death. No matter what life I live, people die and I've just had it. My heart just can't take much more."

Daryl didn't respond to that one way or another but oddly enough he found himself understanding what she was trying to say – Her heart couldn't take it not because it was frozen but because it was broken.

* * *

When they finally arrived at the CDC there were dead bodies all over the place. Based off how many flies there were, along with the unbearable smell, they'd been dead for awhile. With a cloth held over her nose and mouth to try and keep the putrid smell at bay, she went along with the group towards the building. Glenn was having a rough time with the smell as well, so she took a bandana from her bag and handed it to him.

"Thanks," he told her gratefully and wished this was an appropriate time to talk to her about stuff – why she was riding with Daryl was one of them, but it wasn't so he'd just have to wait. At least she wasn't avoiding him anymore so that was progress.

They closer they got to the building, the more dead bodies there were. It was like they were walking through a graveyard without the luxury of them being buried underground. Suddenly Blair got hit with a horrible mental image of the dead bursting through the ground in a cemetery, making her shudder before moving on.

Finally they made it to the CDC's front doors but the were sealed shut by metal shutters that wouldn't budge. Shane pounded on the metal shutters as T-Dog said, "There's nobody here."

"Then why are these shutters down?" Rick retorted, not about to accept the fact that no one was inside.

"Walkers!" Daryl shouted when one started to get close to them with others within sight in the distance. He shot and arrow, getting it right in the head, before yelling at Rick, "You led us into a graveyard!"

"He made a call," Shane defended.

"It was the wrong damn call!" Daryl furiously retorted as he charged towards Rick but Blair was right there to keep him back.

"Dude, shut up," Blair said to him as she pushed him back. "Self-preservation, remember? Sound is bad."

While Blair was dealing with Daryl, Shane said to Rick, "This is a dead end, Rick. Do you hear me? No blame."

"He's right," Lori frantically interjected. "We can't be this close to the city after dark."

Shane was trying to get through to Rick. "Fort Benning, Rick. It's still an option."

"On what?" Andrea interjected. "No food, no fuel. It's a hundred miles."

"A hundred-twenty-five," Glenn corrected, "I checked the map."

"Forget Fort Benning!" Lori shouted at them. "We need answers tonight. Now!"

"All this shouting isn't helping anything," Blair quietly yet in an elevated tone said to them as she went to the door and kicked one of them. "Let us in you son of a bitch!"

Inside the CDC sat a middle aged Korean man looking at the security monitors. He didn't intend on letting them in, wanting them all to go away, until he saw _her_ on the monitor. Dr. Jae Han almost couldn't believe his eyes because he hadn't seen her since he remarried a long time ago, but knew it was her. "Blair…"

Jae saw how the rest of the group were trying to pull her and a man in a Sheriff's uniform away but he couldn't let them go – not if Blair was with them. Going against a decision he had already made he entered in the code to let them in. If nothing else then he could say hello to his estranged daughter…right before saying goodbye.

* * *

End Episode 5


	6. Strong enough - Season 1 Finale

**A/N: Hey, Readers! I'm gonna do things a little different with this 'Episode', meaning it's going to be** _ **mostly**_ **from Jae Han's point of view. Hope you like it.  
**

 **TRIGGER WARNING – REFERENCE TO/MENTION OF SUICIDE IN THIS 'EPISODE'  
**

* * *

Jae sat in front of the monitor in the 'Big Room' underground the CDC building. His daughter – a daughter he hadn't laid on eyes in ten years or so was now standing on the ground level above him. The last time he saw Blair was the day he left for Atlanta after the divorce. She didn't say a word to him then and could imagine the words she would have for him now. If Blair was anything like him, or her mother for that matter, they would certainly be of the fierce variety – whether or not she said them aloud.

Jae finally moved away from the monitor and grabbed the automatic weapon that was resting beside his desk. He had no intention of using it but in case any of in his daughter's group were infected or tried to attack him, he was going to be prepared.

As he made his way to the upper level, powering up what was needed as he went, he couldn't stop thinking about the irony of this turn of events. He was hardly a part of her life and now she was here when he was getting so close to his death.

Jae stepped out of the elevator and held the gun at the ready as he walked into the entrance of the CDC building. After the guy in the uniform called out 'Hello?', he answered back with, "Hello," adjusted his grip on the gun and said, "So, are any of you infected?" Before anyone answered, he looked over at Blair and added in, "Hello, Blair. It's been a long time. You're all grown up."

He watched as she made her way through the group and looked at him in shock. At her shocked sounding "Dad?" he smiled at her and got back to business. "At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I'm going to ask again – Is anyone infected?"

"One of our group," the man in the uniform replied. "But he didn't make it."

"Yeah…I'm not going to take your word on that," Jae answered. "You want admission? Blood tests are the price to pay."

The man in the uniform didn't refute that request. "We can do that."

That was all he wanted to hear – for the moment anyway. "Good." He lowered the gun and walked towards them, pointing towards the doors. "If you have any supplies you better get them now. Once those doors get closed, they're not opening up again." He stood next to the card swiper to get the shutters closed again when it was time to and waved his hand for whoever to get a move on. "Did I stutter?"

The young man with a baseball cap who stood next to his daughter said to her, "I can hear the resemblance." Jae cracked a bit of a smile when Blair punched him in reply before he took off through the doors with a few others.

Jae had a feeling he was in for it when Blair stormed over to him. They stared at each other for a moment before she asked, "How the hell are you here?" That wasn't a question he was expecting, but he answered it anyway.

"I've been in Atlanta since I moved here ten years ago, Blair. You know that. I should be asking you how the hell are you here. How long have you been here?"

Blair held up her hand and waved it in front of him in a way that he was familiar with. Her mother Vivian would do the same thing when she didn't want to deal with something. It usually didn't last long though, and if she was anything like Vivian an explosion was soon coming.

"Who _are_ you?" Blair demanded to know.

Her look of confusion confused Jae immensely. "Have you hit your head recently?" Jae reached out a hand to check but she instantly hit it away. "Fine. I am Doctor Jae Han, your father. Remember?"

Blair stilled looked like she was having a hard time processing this. "You're not who I remember."

Jae didn't stop her when she walked away to speak with the guy in the uniform. He wanted to hear what they were saying but the group came running in with their supplies, so Jae swiped his security card and said into the intercom, "Vi, seal the main entrance then kill the power up here."

The shutters were closing with no issue so Jae headed back to the elevator but stopped when the guy in the uniform introduced himself. "Rick Grimes," he greeted.

Jae didn't shake his hand and he introduced himself as well. "Doctor Jae Han. Blair's father – in case that wasn't obvious."

Rick looked back to Blair who was standing with Glenn and said, "I think we all agree with Glenn that we can see the resemblance."

"Hear," Jae corrected. "He said he could hear the resemblance. Blair's mother and I both have a bit of an attitude. I can already tell Blair has at least some of that." He cocked his head for Rick and the others to come with him. "Follow me." Jae proceeded towards the elevator with the group behind him. All except for Blair and Rick, that is. Jae couldn't hear what they were saying to each other, but he could tell Blair wasn't happy about whatever it was.

Jae kept the elevator open for them and when they walked in, he said, "Oh, of course, take your time. It's not like this place is running on limited electrical resources or anything."

Blair turned around to ask the group, "Is this what I sound like?" Everyone pretty much answered with their own versions of 'yes' which made Blair cringe in frustrated disgust and not say another word.

Jae chuckled at that then turned around when the one with a crossbow asked, "Doctors always go around packing heat like that?"

"There were enough of them lying around so I helped myself. It didn't take too long to get to know it." Jae had nothing else to say on the topic and it's not like they had enough time to continue with it anyway since they reached the underground level.

Jae led the way out of the elevator and when one of the women asked him if they were underground, he answered with, "If you're claustrophobic I recommend not thinking about it." Yeah, he didn't really have any better advice than that.

At the end of the long hallway they reached the darkened 'Big Room'. It was a round room that had a catwalk around the perimeter and the center was filled with desks, computers, and electrical items of the like. As Jae entered, he called out, "Vi, power up the Big Room," and a moment later the lights turned on and the computers powered up.

Jae turned around to say, "Welcome to Zone 5 – Home sweet home," before leading them down the center ramp from the cat walk into the main area.

"Where is everybody?" Rick wanted to know since as far as he could see the place was deserted. "The doctors and staff?"

Jae stopped in the middle of the main with wry chuckle as he held his arms out to his sides like he was presenting something. "I'm it. I'm the only one here."

The woman with the long brown hair asked, "What about the person you were speaking with? Vi?"

Jae had a wave of amusement spread across his face before calling out, "Vi, say hello to our guests. Tell them 'Welcome'."

A moment later a robotic woman's voice called out over the intercom, "Hello, guests. Welcome."

Feeling his point had been made, Jae repeated, "I'm it. I'm all that's left." He made sure to keep his heartbreak from that fact off his face. Jae wasn't alone the whole time and that loss took out a chunk of his heart. This wasn't something he intended to share with this group or his daughter, so he made to keep on a poker face.

After giving them a moment to process this information, he said, "Time to pay for admission."

* * *

Jae gathered up the supplies to take the blood samples and led the group into a nearby conference room. Most of them didn't complain about getting stuck, that was until he started drawing blood from the blonde woman.

"What's the point of this?" she asked him. "I mean, if any of us were infected then we'd be running a fever."

Jae sighed at that. "Look, I've broken about every rule in the book just by letting you in here. Just let me at least be thorough."

"You want to be thorough?" Blair shot at him. "Then how about asking if we need anything – Like to eat for example. Because I don't know about you, but none of us have hardly eaten anything for days."

Jae honestly hadn't thought of that and kicked himself for a moment for not thinking of it. After getting the blonde woman's blood, he said, "All done. And as far as food goes, I can do something about that."

* * *

Do something about it indeed. Not only did Jae have enough food supplies for the lot of them but numerous bottles of wine. This meal was set up in the cafeteria room where everyone was drinking and being merry.

Jae noticed how Blair didn't sit with the group but outside of it. She sat on a table next to the one with the crossbow – who he heard be referred to as Daryl – and passed a bottle of wine back and forth between them. It warmed him a little bit to hear her laugh at how the little boy – Carl if he heard right – tried some of the wine and thought it was disgusting.

"Stick to soda pop," one of the men – Shane perhaps – said to Carl as he poured him some then Daryl added in, "Not Glenn though."

Glenn chuckled, "What?" when he heard that.

"I want to see how red your face can get, little man," Daryl enthusiastically replied, making everyone laugh again.

Blair even hopped up from the table and swiped Glenn's baseball cap off his head and put it on her own as she said, "I'm holding this hostage until that bottle is gone." She then clinked her bottle of wine with his. "Cheers!"

Everyone got a hoot out of that – except for Daryl who didn't look too amused from Jae's perspective – but Jae sat silent. The decision he made was filtering through his mind. He decided it when the last viable samples were lost but perhaps that was just the last straw. Jae realized he made the decision as soon as he lost his wife – Not Blair's mother, the woman he married after her. The woman who was the true love of his life. Yeah, when she died _that's_ when he made the decision. It was only now that he decided to put it into action.

Jae was pulled from his thoughts when Rick started clinking on his glass and stood for a toast. "It seems we haven't thanked out host properly," he began but the one called T-Dog cut him off to say, "He is more than just our host."

Daryl raised his bottle and called out, "Here's to you, Doc Han. Booyah!" Everyone else followed with cheers and thanks afterwards. None of it really meant anything until Blair came over and sat in the chair beside him.

Blair took a deep breath and adjusted Glenn's cap upon her head. "Don't read too much into this, but thank you."

Jae smiled weakly at her and bowed his head a little. "You're welcome, Blair."

Shane cut into their moment to ask, "So when are you going to tell us what the hell happened here, Doc?"

"I think we're more interested in hearing childhood horror stories about Blair," Daryl interjected then laughed when she bolted up from her chair and punched him in the arm.

Shane cut through the laughter that followed from the group to say, "Well I'm more interested in finding out what happened to all the doctors and everybody that were supposed to figure out what happened. Where are they?"

"We're celebrating here, Shane," Rick cut in before Jae could say anything. "We don't need to do this now."

Shane clearly had a difference of opinion. "Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was you're move – supposed to find all the answers. Instead he found him." He stuck his thumb out to refer to Jae. "We found one man. Why?"

Jae finally spoke up. "Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted."

"Every last one of them?" Shane scoffed in clear disbelief.

"No," Joe countered with a hardened face. "Many of them couldn't face walking out that door. They…opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time."

Things were quiet among the group until Blair broke the silence, asking, "Why didn't you leave?"

"I just kept working," Jae answered then finished off his glass of wine, "hoping to do some good."

The lifted spirits of the group were clearly lowered now and Glenn was the one to call out Shane on it. Glenn shook his head before saying, "You are such a buzzkill, man."

Blair raised her bottle of wine and sarcastically muttered, "Cheers to that."

* * *

Once the meal was over, Jae led them to where they could get some rest. "Most of the facility is powered down, including housing, so you'll have to make due here." He gestured to the offices they passed. "The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you'd rather. There's a rec room down the hall that the kids might enjoy. Just don't plug in the video games or anything that needs power." He turned around to address the whole group. "That applies to all of you. Nothing gets plugged in and the same goes with the showers. Go easy on the hot water."

Jae left them to get settled in, having no delusions that they'd actually listen to him about conserving the hot water. It's not like it'd matter anyway. As long as there was enough power to do what he set in motion then that was all that mattered.

Jae may not have been delusional about the water usage, but there he was likely delusional about something else – That the plan he set in motion was for the best for himself, his daughter, and the rest of the group and that it's what they'd all want in the end.

* * *

Jae finished running the blood tests and he found an anomaly in one of the sample. The anomaly wasn't what was there but what _wasn't_ there. He checked the sample more than once and almost felt a sense of hope, but quickly squashed it down. After the accident in the lab he didn't have the resources anymore to run the tests needed to see if anything could be done about it. And on top of that, the last he thing wanted to do was turn his daughter into a lab rat. Where everyone else had the virus inside them…she didn't.

Jae flipped over the paperwork on his desk in the Big Room when he heard a knock from behind him. Rick came in with a bottle of whiskey in his hands, asking, "How's the blood?"

"No surprises," Jae convincingly answered as he turned around in his chair to face him.

"I came to thank you," Rick informed him, which confused Jae.

"You already did," he replied and realized soon enough that Rick was probably drunk or at least getting close to be. "Shockingly enough, so did Blair." When Rick dropped to the floor and leaned back against the desk, he asked, "Are you alright?"

"You don't know what it's like," Rick replied, pointing the bottle at him and laughing. "You don't know what it's like out there. What we've been through – what your daughter has been through. You think you do, but you don't. We'd have died out there. It was only a matter of time. There's too many of those things."

When Rick started to break down about not telling his son and his wife about what he really felt and kept everything in, Jae said, "It'll all be okay. It'll be okay." From Jae's perspective, it would be. If only he could allow himself to see what their perspective might be, but he couldn't. Jae wasn't strong enough for this world anymore…not anymore.

* * *

The next morning, Jae brought a couple bottles of aspirin down to the dining area, figuring they'd need it. "For the hangovers," he said as he set them down on the table.

"You going to join us for breakfast?" Blair asked as he walked away.

"I already ate," he replied then explained. "I keep weird hours. We can talk later if you want. Enjoy." Jae stopped in the doorway when he heard Glenn groan, "Never let me drink again."

"Aww! Such a lightweight," Blair teased as she nudged him.

"How are you not hungover?" Glenn groaned, resting his head on the table.

"Because I am _not_ a lightweight," Blair stated proudly as she put her hands on her chest in reference to herself.

Jae smiled a little when everyone laughed and was about to leave but something pulled him back in. "I could use some coffee," he lamely explained for his presence and went to get himself a cup.

Now Dale had something to say. "Hey, Doc, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing in the morning…"

Jae cut him off. "But that's not going to stop you."

Andrea cut right to the chase, saying, "We didn't come here for the eggs."

Jae took a long sip of his coffee before saying, "This whole group is full of buzzkills, isn't it?" He took another sip, walking away as he said, "When you're done with the eggs you didn't come here for, come to the Big Room. I'll explain then."

* * *

Jae was all ready at the computer in the Big Room when the group came in. After a few clicks and a couple of beeps, he said, "Give me a playback of TS-19."

The computer voice called back, "Playback of TS-19," before loading the images of scans and data on the computer screen.

Now that was up and running, he turned back to the group. "Not many people ever got the chance to see this. Very few, actually."

When the scans of a brain came onto the screen, Carl asked, "Is that a brain?"

"An extraordinary one," Jae replied, not looking away from the screen. Not that it matters in the end." With a breath he asked Vi, "Take us in for E.I.V."

"Enhanced internal view," Vi's robotic voice announced as the image changed on the screen to give them a better view of the inner workings of that particular brain.

"What are those lights?" Shane wanted to know since whatever they were looking at inside that brain was blinking and such.

"That's a person's life," Jae answered as he turned back to the group and gestured to the screen like he was teaching a class. "It's their experiences, memories – It's everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is…you – The thing that makes you unique and human."

Daryl crossed his arms and walked over to Blair to ask, "You got any idea what your old man is saying?"

This made Blair call out to Jae, "How about a little more explanation and a little less flourish, yeah?"

Jae chuckled in amusement. "Those are synapses, electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages. They determine everything a person says, does, or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death."

"Death?" Rick asked as he moved towards Jae. "That's what this is? A vigil?"

Jae turned his head to look at him. "In a way…yes. It's the playback of the vigil."

"This person died?" Andrea asked, sounding a bit tearful. "Who were they?"

"Test subject 19," Jae answered, trying not to sound emotional. "Someone who was bitten and infected…and volunteered to have us record the process." He cleared his throat, needing a moment, before speaking to Vi again. "Vi, scan forward to the first event."

Vi repeated the command before changing the image on the screen. Now the brain of TS-19 had all this black within it – black vein-like things that seemed to intrude on the other synapses.

"Whoa…" Blair said aloud, sounding interested and Glenn asked, "What is that?"

"It invades the brain like meningitis," Jae explained. "The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shut down, then the major organs, then death." All of this showed on the screen as the black invaded more and more of the image before it turned completely black. "Everything you ever were, or ever will be…gone."

Jae turned around when he heard someone crying and saw it was Andrea. Lori explained to him, "She lost someone two days ago – her sister." He nodded in understanding and said to Andrea, "I lost someone, too. I know how devastating that can be."

Keeping his word to explain more, he called out to Vi, "Scan to the second event."

Once again, Vi repeated the command before changing the images. While this was loading, Jae said, "The resurrection times vary widely. We've had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute…seven seconds."

Now the image of the darkened brain started lighting up, but it wasn't like the blue synapses from before. It was a red cluster-like area that seemed to spark wildly as opposed to flash.

"It restarts the brain?" Lori asked in shock.

"No," Jae corrected, "just the brain stem. Basically, it gets them up and moving."

"But they're not alive?" Rick wanted to know.

Jae stepped aside and held his hand out towards the screen. "You tell me."

"It's nothing like before," Rick stated as he looked at the image. "That brain is dark."

Jae picked up from there. "Dark, lifeless, dead. The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part – that doesn't come back. The _you_ part. This is just a shell driven by mindless instinct."

Blair gasped when something flashed across the screen leaving a trail through the skull of the patient. "Oh my god…you shot them in the head." She sounded like she was surprised he had it in him.

Jae didn't respond to his daughter's statement and told Vi, "Power down the main screen and the work stations." Vi repeated the command and did so.

Andrea started to pace a bit as she scoffed, "You have no idea what it is, do you?"

Jae took a moment before answering. "It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal."

"Or the wrath of God?" Jacqui emotionally interjected.

"God's got nothing to do with this," Blair muttered with a shake of her head. If Jae didn't know any better, he'd think she was holding something back.

Andrea wasn't buying all this. "Somebody must know something. Somebody somewhere has got to know something!"

"There might be someone in the other facilities, but I can't be sure." Jae wasn't going to give them false hope or anything of the like.

"But you don't know?" Rick asked incredulously. "How can you not know?"

"Everything went down," Jae explained. "Communications, directives, all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month."

"So it's not just here?" Andrea emotionally asked. "There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?"

When Jae said nothing, Blair spoke up. "Dad…come on. You have got to know _something_. Are you seriously telling us that the whole world out there is dead or about to be?"

Jae turned to face his daughter. If he had the resources then maybe there could be something he could do with her blood, but he didn't. And if the other CDC stations had already done what he was planning to, then the risk would be for nothing. It was pointless.

Jae could see that she and everyone else was expecting and answer, so he gave them one. "I'm telling you that, right now, there is nothing I can say that will help anything."

None of them reacted to the news very well.

Daryl rubbed his face saying, "Man, I'm going to get shitfaced drunk. Again."

"I'm right there with you," Blair added in, leaning back against one of the work stations and pointed at Glenn across the way, "And don't think you're getting out of it either."

Dale walked over to Jae, saying, "Doctor Han, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but…" he pointed to a digital clock on the wall. "That clock is counting down. What happens at zero?"

Jae opened his mouth to say something but changed what he intended to say. "The basement generators, they run out of fuel." Yeah…there was more to it than that.

"Okay…so what happens when the power runs out?" Blair asked her father, but he said nothing. "Dad," she tried more firmly, "what happens when the power runs out?"

Since Blair didn't get an answer, Rick asked Vi. "Vi, what happens when the power runs out?"

Vi's voice answered over the speakers, "When the power runs out a facility-wide decontamination will occur."

"Decontamination?" Blair turned around to find Jae leaving the room. "Tell me that does not mean what I think that means!"

"Do you know something?" Daryl wanted to know, getting right over to her to ask that.

Blair only said, "Check out those generators!" before running after her father.

Jae was in the hall when Blair caught up with him. He stopped when she started yelling.

"Tell me I'm wrong!" Blair shouted at him. "Tell me that decontamination doesn't mean 'BOOM!'." She made a grand hand gesture to represent an explosion.

Jae still didn't answer her.

"Dammit, Dad!" Blair shouted as he shoved him. "Tell me you didn't bring us all in here to die!"

"It'll be okay," Jae said softly to her. "It will all be okay."

"I don't believe you," Blair answered, shoving him again. "I don't believe you, you son of a bitch!" Tears were streaming down her face as she shoved him again and again until finally she punched him right in the face. "I'm telling them and we're getting the hell out of here."

Jae rubbed his jaw thinking that Blair certainly had her mother's punch before straightening his posture. He took a picture of his wife from his pocket and said, "I did the best I could with the time I had. And ironically enough the person that could save us arrives just when time runs out." He kissed the picture before returning it to his pocket and going back to the Big Room. The building was already losing power and it was time to face the music.

As soon as Jae returned to the Big Room, Rick demanded to know, "Is she right? Is this building going to explode when the timer counts down?"

"My daughter is a very smart woman. Don't underestimate her," Jae answered as he moved to stand in front of the main screen. "And yes, she's right."

Rick turned Lori and the others, shouting, "Hurry up and get your stuff. We're getting out of here now!"

Just when the group was about to scramble off to do that, an alarm went off. Vi's voice announced that the were thirty minutes away from decontamination. Before anyone could leave the area, Jae used his card to enter in a code which blocked off all the exits.

Glenn was clearly terrified when he asked, "Did you just lock us in? He just locked us in!"

Daryl was the first one to lose it and started going after Jae, ready to kill him. "You son of a bitch! You're going to kill us!"

Blair quickly went over to Daryl to keep him back, not because she didn't think her father deserved getting his ass beat, but because they needed him. "Daryl…Daryl! As much as he deserves it, you can't do anything to him. Okay? He's the only one to get those doors back open. Okay? We need him conscious."

"You always calmed down the most feral of animals," Jae stated as he watched this unfold. "It seems to be the same with humans."

Blair shot him a look so hard that if looks could kill, he would be dead.

Rick went over to Jae and demanded of him, "Open the doors, now!"

"There's no point," Jae explained. "Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed. It's not something I control, the computers do. I told you before, once that front door was closed there would be no opening it again. You heard me say that." Feeling strongly about this, he added in, "It's better this way."

"What is?" Blair demanded to know. "Come on, Dad, I want to know! You really think killing all of us is the best thing to do? Up there in that world we at least have a chance! We're not sitting ducks waiting to be plucked off one by one because we _fight_. With every fiber of our being we fight to live and see another day because we're _**strong**_. We were given this life because we're strong enough to live it! So don't you **dare** sit there and take our free will away from us. You **are not a god**!"

Jae stood up and faced his daughter. "You are right, I am not a god. I am a _**man**_. A man who has suffered loss, grief, pain. A man who can't take it anymore. When that countdown reaches zero the air turns into fire. There will be no more pain." He reached out and wiped the tears from Blair's cheeks, thinking that of course she chooses that moment not to recoil from his touch. "You have something I lack – You still have your fire. I can see it in your eyes. Don't let anyone take that from you – not even me." Jae kissed Blair's forehead before smiling a melancholy smile at her. "You're right. You are strong enough for this world…but I'm not."

Jae went over to the keypad saying, "I can't open the doors topside. That hasn't changed." He swiped his card to open the exit to the Big Room so they could leave. "Go."

Blair smiled gratefully, "Thank you," and took off with the others. He didn't see that she stopped and looked back to him.

Jae shook Rick's hand and whispered to him how the virus was in everyone…but Blair. With that done, he said in a normal voice. "You take care of her. She's _strong_ but I don't think she can survive alone."

Rick nodded, absorbing it all in. "You have my word."

"Dad, you're coming, right?" Blair asked as she back ran over to him. "Come on!"

Jae shook his head. "I'm not going."

Blair couldn't accept that. "Yes. Yes, you are. Let's go!"

Jae took her hands and gripped them tight to get her to focus right on him. "I'm **not going**. I love you, Blair. I always have. Now go!"

Jae let go of her hands and turned her back on him as she started screaming at him hysterically to leave with them and how she didn't want to leave without him. He only turned back when he voice started to fade and saw that Rick had to physically drag her out of there. Jae had a moment of doubt in his choice of who to tell but seeing how much Rick cared for Blair and what he was willing to do to get her to safety, he was certain he made the right choice. "Goodbye, Blair," he whispered then went to take a seat on the floor in the middle of the room with Jacqui who chose to stay behind.

Blair fought Rick the whole way to the stairwell. "I'm going back for him!" she screamed, not able to lose him. She didn't care if he wasn't her father from her reality, he was the next best thing. If a version of Blair existed in this world before the spell sent he to it then he was _her_ father and that was good enough. "I can't leave him here! I can't!"

Rick stood in front of Blair and cupped her face so she would look right into his eyes. "Living to fight another day is something you want. You said that yourself. Staying here…that's what _he_ wants. You can't change his mind, Partner. And you can't tell me that you didn't see it in his eyes that this was something he decided long before we came here."

Blair started to sob and couldn't even formulate a response to that and this time when Rick took her arm and guided her away, she didn't fight him. Instead, she ran like hell up those stairs to catch up with everyone else who chose fight like hell to live another day.

* * *

When she and Rick reached the main entrance, Daryl, Shane, and the others were trying to either break through the windows or get the doors open but nothing was working.

Carol rushed over and said, "Rick, I have something that might help. That first morning at camp when I washed your uniform, I found this in your pocket."

Rick looked at her so gratefully as he took it and called out, "Everybody cover!" Rick placed the grenade at the window and ran like hell away from it before it detonated. It sure as well worked, the blast from the grenade blew out the glass so everyone could get out.

Meanwhile, Jae looked at the monitor and smiled as Blair's image ran across the screen. "She got out. They all did."

Back up top, Blair was running to Daryl's truck but stopped and waited, praying her father would come out the window behind Dale and Andrea, but he didn't. "Come on. Come on. Come on," she repeated, ignoring Daryl shouting at her to get into the truck and then…then it happened.

The entire CDC building exploded, making Blair cry out, "NO!". Like a hysterical crazy person, she ran towards the exploding building, only to he held back by Daryl. "DAD!" She screamed again, "Dad!" Then finally her legs gave out as she cried in agony and heartbreak.

Daryl didn't hold her up when she started to fall but instead went to the ground with her. Not once did he remove his arms from around Blair and held her as she screamed out her pain. It wasn't until that moment he realized what he hadn't before, and it was all because of something cheesy he heard once on the radio – Caring deeply about someone doesn't mean always having to hold them up, but being there for them when they need to fall.

* * *

End Episode 6 – Season 1 Finale


	7. Her eyes - Season 2 Episode 1

Ever since what happened at the CDC – what her father did – Blair had been numb. She just waded through the days, going through the motions and yet feeling nothing. If there was a Walker she dealt with it, if they needed to get gas for the vehicles she went to help, but she didn't say a word. In fact, she Blair hadn't spoken since she stopped screaming the CDC day.

Rick didn't pressure Blair to get over what happened and gave her the space he believed she needed. Glenn had a different approach in trying to get her to react to just about anything. He even tried deliberately antagonizing her to get her to punch him or something and that didn't even work. Blair would only stare at him before walking away.

Daryl did something different than the both of them. He didn't try to get her to talk but stuck by her side. Over the past few days since what happened, they seemed to develop a silent language between them. Their expressions and gestures were all that was needed to converse and that was the only thing Blair would really respond to.

Now that their group was even smaller the number of vehicles decreased as well. Daryl gave up his truck for his motorcycle and Blair just climbed right on behind him without saying a word. He didn't object to this at all but also didn't read into why she did it. Daryl figured it was because she had ridden with him before and was just sticking to the routine as they started on the first leg of their journey to Fort Benning.

* * *

Blair held onto Daryl's angel wing vest as they rode on the motorcycle in the lead of the caravan that now consisted of only three vehicles – Daryl's motorcycle, Dale's Winnebago, and the SUV Rick was driving. She kept thinking about all the people they lost and the one she lost. It hit her so hard losing Jae like that. In her reality she didn't even know where her father was, so to find him here only to lose him…it affected Blair at her core.

Blair honestly thought she knew how to deal with all the losses since she's experienced enough of them. She would mourn, remember, and carry them with her as she moved on. This time was different though. This time she couldn't seem to get over it and thus she became numb. Blair was living but she didn't feel alive. The fire Jae saw in her was put out the second she saw that building go up in flames with him inside.

Blair was lost in her never-ending round of thoughts until they hit a bad patch on the interstate. Evidence of accidents were all over the place – an upturned tractor trailer truck, cars on either side of the road, etc. Her eyes looked all around them, taking it all in. She could imagine how frantic people were to get out of the city and the horrible events that could have happened on this stretch of road. These possible scenarios sent Blair even deeper into herself. If she thought she was numb before, it was nothing compared to now.

At the sound of something popping and hissing behind her, she turned back to see Dale's Winnebago coming to a stop as smoke wafted from the engine. If they didn't get that fixed then they wouldn't be able to get any further. Blair knew this and yet…she didn't care.

When Daryl stopped the motorcycle, Blair climbed off and held onto the strap of her messenger bag as she walked with him to the group. Glenn said something to her but she didn't catch what it was and honestly didn't really care. She didn't care about anything anymore. And yet, even while feeling like this, when Lori said she didn't feel right about scavenging through the cars to find supplies, Blair rolled her eyes and walked away to see what could be found.

Daryl wasn't about to let her to wander off on her own so he was going to go with her, but was stopped when Rick asked him, "How's she doing?"

"How do you think she's doing?" Daryl asked in reply before sprinting to catch up with her.

Rick dragged his hand down his face in worry. If he didn't see a change in her within the next day or so then he'd revisit his initial plan of giving her space.

Blair looked at Daryl when he caught up with her and she greeted him by waving towards T-Dog who was having issues getting a car's gas tank door open. He must have understood that she was pretty much telling him to get lost – which was part of it since she wanted to be alone – because he went to help T-Dog.

* * *

Going through the deserted cars for things they could use was one of the most depressing things she had ever done. Some of the cars had dead bodies in them, or results of attacks, or empty shells left behind from those who owned them. It was an odd feeling for Blair to feel like she had more in common with these abandoned cars than anything else at the moment.

Blair stopped at a car that didn't look it'd been gone through yet and no wonder – the doors were locked. She pulled her Nunchucks from her bag and hit the window so hard that it shattered. After getting the vehicle unlocked and the trunk opened up, she went looking for things.

There wasn't much to find but the mini flashlights, a couple bottles of water, and some food was good enough. That was until she got into the trunk. That's where she found something to interest her. Perhaps interest was too strong of a word since she didn't really feel anything but it caught her attention.

In the trunk of the car there were tons of clothes but it was the footwear that caught her eye – a pair of black combat boots. Blair kicked off one of the tennis shoes on her feet and tried them on – a perfect fit. Since this was the case, she kicked off the other, shoved the pair of shoes in an outer pocket of her bag and put on the other boot. After grabbing a couple essential things she found in the trunk, she went onto checking out the other vehicles.

Blair was once again lost in her own head as she moved from one car to the other, knowing what to look for but not really registering it at all. It was almost as if she was sleepwalking – running on autopilot or something. Sound didn't even register with her because all she heard were the cries and screams from her past. This is why she didn't even realize that a hoard of Walkers was coming straight towards her and one was only a few feet away.

Her head was inside the car looking for things and when she stood up, _that's_ when she saw the Walker. Blair didn't even have a chance to react before seeing Daryl come up from behind the thing and impaling it in its skull. She staggered back into the car a bit, not even realizing she was shaking.

Daryl rushed over to Blair gently shushing her, his way of telling her he wasn't going to let anything happen to her, before getting her to lie on the road. Daryl put a dead body on her then dragged one onto himself just before the hoard of Walkers arrived.

Blair closed her eyes and held her breath. It wasn't that she was feeling afraid, it was that this was one more thing to add to the endless things that were tearing her apart.

When the Walkers were gone, Daryl threw the dead body off him then did the same to the one on Blair. He could see that she was physically fine but she was missing something – he could see it in her eyes. Her eyes were like ghosts of the ones that were once filled with fire. Daryl was willing to do anything for her eyes to look like that again.

Not too far away Daryl saw a bloodied T-Dog so he quickly got Blair to her feet so they could check on him.

Once again, Blair was in auto-pilot. She pulled a scarf from her bag and tied it tight above the gash in his arm before taking a bandana and pressing it against the wound. She took Daryl's hand and pressed it where hers was so she could go through her bag. In one of the cars she found a first aid kit so that's what she was looking for now.

Inside the kit was a bottle of wintergreen rubbing alcohol she opened up the bottle and got ready to pour it on T-Dog's wound. She knew with a wound that deep it would hurt like and wouldn't do much but it was something.

Daryl could see what she was planning on doing and quickly pressed his hand over T-Dog's mouth to muffle the screams he knew would be coming – and they did.

T-Dog's screamed from the pain of what Blair was doing to him, but it was muffled by Daryl's hand until finally he was able to deal with it – more or less – once she was done pouring.

Blair didn't use a lot so there would be some for later if needed and once she closed it up, she patted T-Dog on the shoulder and got up to head back to the others.

"That's just cold, man," T-Dog groaned as Daryl helped him to his feet. "I missed it when she punched everybody."

Daryl didn't give any response to that, despite agreeing completely.

* * *

Blair was in no shape to go help Daryl and Rick track down Carol's daughter Sophia that was chased by a couple of Walkers into the woods, so she stayed with the group to gather up more supplies from the other vehicles.

She was going through the bed of a truck when suddenly she felt a pair of eyes on her. Blair slowly turned around and found Glenn spying on her from behind a nearby vehicle. He was probably trying to get her goat again and this time she did something about it.

Blair went over to Glenn and actually spoke to him. "Whatever you're trying to do, you're wasting your time. So just…stop." Her voice was flat as she spoke to him – it didn't sound like her at all.

"I'm just trying to get you back, Blair," Glenn answered, sounding like he was missing his best friend because in a way…he was.

"I'm standing right here." Blair had nothing else to say to him and went back to scavenging.

Glenn watched her go, thinking that she may have been standing there but she wasn't there at all.

Blair was weaving through some cars when Carl came running over to her calling out her name. She stopped and turned around to see what he wanted and found he was carrying a rolled up black thing that had something skinnier sticking out from both ends.

"Look at all this! It's an arsenal!" Carl unrolled the thing and revealed a whole bunch of bladed weapons – machetes, hatches, large daggers, _and_ what was sticking out from both ends was the scabbard/saya of a Katana. Blair couldn't take her eyes off it.

Carl saw how she was staring at it so he slid it out and handed to her. "Here." He thought maybe it was something she really wanted and it might make her feel better. When she took the Katana he said genuinely to her, "I'm sorry about your dad," before rolling the holder back up to go show Shane what he found.

Blair heard Carl's words but they meant nothing to her – how could they? She still felt so numb. As Blair put her arm through the strap attached to the saya, all she could think was that Rick's debt had been paid. Granted, Rick wasn't the one to find it for her but Carl did. Since he's Rick's son, they were square.

As Blair went to check out another car, she thought aloud, "What are the odds?" Meaning – what were the odds that a Katana would be found in the middle of an abandoned interstate? Maybe the spell was planting things for her when she needed them the most. If that was the case though, then where the hell was the exit?

Blair was starting to think that she was never going to go home. Her mind really never should have gone there because it made everything worse, just when she didn't think it was possible.

* * *

When Blair had enough of scavenging, she climbed up the ladder of the Winnebago to stand on the roof. It was there she removed the Katana from the saya upon her back and stared at it for a moment. The last time she held one of these in her hands was at the Lakehouse. She decapitated a Werewolf with it and also stabbed Elena so she could Dagger Elijah. Before that, it was a past life – more than one actually – but Kaia's life stuck out the most. She was the first to fight with one and admittedly was the best.

Needing to get reacclimated with his bladed weapon, she slowly went through the motions. She gradually started to pick up speed until finally she moved with swift agility as she cut through the air.

Shane and the others paused from their efforts to watch her. It was the most they'd seen her do since what happened at the CDC. "Remind me never to get on her bad side," Dale said to the others before going back to working on the Winnebago.

The sun was starting to set so Blair ceased her practice and returned the blade to her back just as Daryl and Rick returned. Blair sat on the roof of the Winnebago with her legs hanging over the side and listened to some bits and pieces of the conversation below.

They didn't find Carol's daughter Sophia but followed the trail until it went cold. The plan was to try again in the morning. Carol yelled at Rick for leaving Sophia alone in the first place and Rick walked away. That was all Blair caught and didn't want to hear anything more. There has already been far too much death. Blair made a decision in that moment that if something happened to Sophia, she'd leave – Blair would venture off on her own so she wouldn't have to worry about anyone else dying but herself.

* * *

That night, Blair took a sleeping bag and pillow she found and crashed in the bed of a truck. She laid there and looked up at the stars, still not feeling a thing. Sleep didn't seem to be in the cards for her so she just laid there, wondering what was going on in her reality. Blair remembered how Bonnie told her that her body was convulsing which was why she tried to stop the spell, and it got her thinking…Maybe she died in her reality? Maybe that's why she was still there…

Blair lifted her head up when she heard a sound at the foot of the truck bed. It was Daryl climbing into it with a blanket of his own.

"Move over," he said to her, since she was laying right in the middle and when she did, he settled in beside her.

Blair rolled over so she wouldn't have to look at him. Having one of their silent conversations wasn't something she could deal with right then.

"Want me to leave?" he said to her in a 'whatever' manner. "Alright." He acted like he was going to leave, even though he didn't intend to. Daryl wanted to see how she was going to react.

Blair still didn't look at him but when he started to leave she shot her hand out and grabbed his arm to stop him. When he laid back down without a word, she moved her hand down to his wrist and held on.

Daryl wanted to say something to her, but didn't. She wasn't ready to hear what he had to say yet. What he did do was stay awake until Blair finally closed her eyes and fell asleep. When Daryl was certain she wasn't away, he took his hand and placed it over hers that was still holding onto his rest and let himself sleep as well.

* * *

In the morning the group got ready to search for Sophia. Rick wanted to make sure that everyone had a weapon in case they came up against any Walkers. Andrea complained about not getting her gun back from Dale, and Shane countered that he, Rick, and Daryl were all 'packing' and he didn't want everyone shooting at the first thing that moved in the trees.

Blair rolled her eyes at this because she wanted the talking to stop and the searching to start. The sooner they found Sophia the sooner they could move on. She walked away from the group and went over the guardrail to head for the tree line to wait for the others to get their asses into gear and get this search party going.

At one point in their search they came upon a small campsite. Unfortunately Sophia wasn't in there, but a guy that 'opted out'. When Blair heard Daryl refer to it as that she needed some space because she instantly heard her father's voice in her head using those exact words. She didn't go very far, just far enough to give herself some breathing room.

Rick went over to Blair and placed his hand on her shoulder. "How you holding up, Partner?" She didn't answer him and kept staring off into the woods in front of her. He didn't give up there. "You can talk to me, Blair. I'm not going anywhere. We're stuck with each other, remember?"

When Blair only crossed her arms without saying a word, Rick sighed and kissed her head and said with a smile, "You got your sword. Guess we're square." Since that didn't get a reaction either, he returned to the group.

Blair took a moment before turning around to look back at him, but still didn't say a word.

Words weren't needed at the moment because the sound of church bells were ringing through the woods. If bells were ringing, then someone must be ringing them. And that someone could be Sophia letting them know where she was.

Rick and the others had the same idea because they took off running towards the sound. When they arrived at the church, they went inside to find a small group of Walkers. Blair pulled out her Katana and went right towards one of them. With one swift movement of the blade, she sliced the Walker's head in half while Shane, Daryl, and Rick took care of the others.

Blair wiped off her blade and returned it to her back before looking for Sophia. Once again, she wasn't there and when the church bells rang again they all ran outside only to find it was coming out of a speaker that was attached to the building on a timer.

Even with feeling so numb, Blair allowed herself a sliver of hope that this is where they wound find Sophia. Hope was pointless and Blair just gave up. She walked away from the group and the church to get away. They weren't going to find Sophia, Blair believed that now, so it was time for her to leave. She didn't even care that she wasn't even going to say goodbye.

Blair didn't get very far before Daryl caught up with her. "What the hell are you doing?" Daryl demanded to know. "This is not the time to split up, Blair."

"I'm not splitting up," Blair answered as she kept walking. "I'm leaving."

Daryl sprinted in front of her to block her path. "Like hell you are."

Blair took a deep breath as she came to a stop. "Don't try and stop me, Daryl. I've kicked your ass before, I can do it again."

She was talking and threatening so Daryl thought they were getting somewhere. "You want to kick my ass again? Fine. Then do it." He stepped towards her in a challenging manner. "Come on, Blair. If you're so angry then do it."

"I'm not angry," Blair flatly retorted, backing away as he stepped closer to her because she didn't want to attack him.

"Like hell you're not," Daryl shot back. "If you're not angry then what are you, huh? Because you're certainly not Blair anymore. I don't know what you are."

Blair tried to tune him out but he kept talking and talking and finally she shouted back, "I'm numb, Daryl! I'm numb! I feel _**nothing**_!" She didn't realize it but tears were streaming down her face as she repeated over and over, "I feel nothing."

Daryl couldn't stand it anymore and finally acted. He walked right up to Blair, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her with a desire he still didn't completely understand. When he pulled back from the kiss, he locked eyes with hers. As he looked into her eyes, it was almost as if she could see them reigniting with her fire. "You still feel nothing?"

Blair did feel something – a strong something – and it terrified her. This was a feeling she's felt before and when it did, it gripped her heart and never let go. "You shouldn't have done that."

"Why?" Daryl wanted to know as he gently placed his hand on the side of her face and wiped a tear away with his thumb.

She took a deep breath before admitting, "Because now I'm terrified of losing you, too."

* * *

When they returned to the church where the others were, Blair went over to Rick and hugged him without a word. He hugged her back, feeling relieved that she seemed to be better.

Blair spoke into his shirt as she said, "We're square, Partner." She pulled back and smiled at him as she moved his hat down over his eyes.

Rick cracked a smile when she did that and thought 'she's back'.

Carl was Blair's next stop. She mussed up his hair a bit before saying, "Thank you for this." Blair gestured to the Katana on her back. "I've been hoping for one of these since I realized what kind of world I woke up in. Now, you're dad was the one who promised me one, but I got _you_ to thank. So, thank you."

Carl looked at Blair with a smile, asking, "Does this mean you're better now?"

Blair crouched in front of with him a bit of a sigh. "It means I'm getting there."

Carl accepted that answer. "Okay."

"Okay," she repeated then went outside with Carl to join the others to find out what the plan was now.

The plan that was agreed upon was for Daryl to lead the group back to the interstate, checking out the other side of the creek for Sophia as they went while Rick, Shane, and Carl stayed behind. Blair had a bad feeling about this plan and voiced it. "Splitting up?" she spoke directly to Rick. "Are you _sure_?"

Rick nodded, "Yeah. I'm sure, Partner."

Blair still had a bad feeling in her gut but didn't say anything more about it. "Okay. I trust you." With that, she gave him a bit of a salute and started heading off with those of the group who were ready to.

As they walked, Blair went over to Glenn and plucked his baseball cap off his head and put it on her own. "I'm sorry for being an ass to you. We still friends?"

Glenn wasn't sure what happened to make her feel better, but he was glad for it. With a wide grin on his face, he said, "The day you stop being an ass to me is the day I know we're no longer friends."

Blair gasped when he said that and punched him right in the arm.

Glenn was convinced she was back to her old self now. "Now _that's_ the Blair we know and tolerate."

Blair took Glenn's cap off her head and put it back on his then pulled it down over his eyes. With a laughing eyeroll, she moved towards the front of the group where Daryl was leading.

Glenn chuckled and put it back to normal, but stopped when he saw how Blair and Daryl were talking to each other. He couldn't hear what was being said but it was clear – at least to him – that there was something going on between them now. Seeing that and thinking it felt worse than any time Blair punched him. Apparently should have said _something_ when he had the chance but it was all so new, he was still figuring out what he felt. And now…now it was probably too late.

Glenn pushed those feelings down for the time being because they had to look for Sophia but honestly he was starting to doubt whether or not they actually would. And he wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't the only one, but he'd keep on going as long as he could – They all would…Wouldn't they?

* * *

End Season 2 Episode 1


	8. That's hot

A single gunshot echoed through the forest and Blair had a bad feeling of what it was about. There was only one shot – that is what worried her. If it was to take down a Walker then they wouldn't have used a bullet but have done it quietly. Not knowing was a bit unsettling but there was nothing they could do about it, so they stuck to the plan to beat the bush and find Sophia.

Daryl saw that Blair was getting lost in her thoughts again and didn't want her to relapse or whatever into her 'Ghost Mode'. "Penny for your thoughts?" he asked to pull her out of them.

Blair looked at him in amusement. "If you actually have a penny I'll tell you."

Daryl looked like he'd just accepted a challenge and then shoved his hand into his pants pocket. After rummaging around for a minute, he pulled out a penny and tossed it at her.

Blair caught it with one hand and looked at in his awed disbelief. "Do you always carry a penny around with you?"

Daryl smirked a bit as he answered her. "Never know when you'll need to pay for a thought."

Blair slipped the penny into her own pocket and let him in on her thought train. "I was thinking about that gunshot." At his look, she waved her hand as she said, "Yeah, yeah, I know there's nothing we can do about it, but that hasn't stopped me from thinking about it. I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach about it."

"You're probably just hungry. You haven't eaten much the past few days." Daryl wasn't dismissing her feelings or anything like that, he was just trying to distract her.

Blair nodded a bit at that. "Yeah, maybe you're right."

When their conversation ended, they heard the one between Andrea and Carol. Andrea was saying, "We're all hoping and praying with you about Sophia. For what it's worth."

Daryl went over to them saying, "I'll tell you what it's worth – not a damn thing. It's a waste of time all this hoping and praying. Because we're going to locate that little girl, and she's going to be just fine. Am I the only one Zen around here? Good lord."

If Blair hadn't already felt something for Daryl then she sure as hell would have started right at that moment. When he came back over to her, she put a hand over her mouth to hide her smile.

"What?" Daryl asked, not getting what she was smiling at.

Blair grinned teasingly at him, "You got another penny?"

Daryl did not, so he shook his head in reply.

Her teasing grin grew a bit. "Then I guess you'll never know."

* * *

They'd been looking for Sophia for awhile now but didn't find anything. Blair couldn't explain it but she just knew that one way or another they would find her. She felt the exact same way about finding Carl and Lori and that's what happened. There was no doubt in her mind it would be the same again.

It wouldn't be much longer until they lost the light so they decided to head back to the interstate with the promise to look for Sophia again in the morning. Blair hadn't said much of anything to Carol since all this happened – hell even before they hardly said much to each other. She was starting to feel bad about that and wanted to do something about it but wasn't sure how. To start, she hung back to walk closer to her in hopes that something would come to her mind in regards to something to say. That didn't happen, at least not on her end. Carol was the one to say something first.

"How did you lose your sister?" Carol asked out of nowhere. "Was it to a Walker?"

Blair took a deep breath as she remembered what happened that night to Elena. "No. No, uhm, it was a few years ago. She was killed by a monster right in front of me. I begged for them to kill me instead but it didn't happen like that – obviously." She felt tears in her eyes and quickly wiped them away before they streamed down her cheeks. "I still haven't gotten over it. I don't think I've gotten over anyone I've lost."

"I'm sorry." Carol was sincere with her words. Between Blair's father and her sister, Carol's heart went out to her.

"Don't be," Blair smiled softly. "I try to think of it as - if I don't get over it then I won't forget them. I think the fear of forgetting them gets to me more than remembering." She crossed her arms and cleared her throat. "Wow, I haven't talked about this in a long time." Blair narrowed her eyes in playful suspicion at Carol and pointed a finger at her. "You used me as a distraction, didn't you? You totally did and I fell for it." When Carol started to crack a little smile, she added in, "You should be proud. I mean, seriously, I don't fall for stuff like that often."

Blair started walking away and pointed back at her. "I'm officially scared of you and your Jedi mind tricks." She got the desired effect when Carol allowed herself to laugh, even if it was just for a moment.

* * *

Things were quiet for a long while as they walked. Everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts. This quiet air hung heavy around the group until Glenn broke the silence.

"I don't know about anyone else, but I want to hear about Blair and the Vampires." It was something he'd been thinking about since she hit the Walker in the heart first and made a Vampire hunting comment. He thought it would be something odd enough to keep the silence broken for awhile.

Daryl stopped walking and looked at Blair with an odd expression. "Vampires?"

"Yeah," Glenn answered as he caught up with him and Blair. "When we first met in Atlanta. There were a couple of Walkers in the alley and Blair – the badass with a bow – takes aim and fires. Wham! Perfect shot _right in the heart_." His emphasis was meant to tease her and it did.

Blair had a literal face-palm moment as she shook her head while Glenn continued on with the story.

"Anyway, so I was freaking out telling her to aim for the head and she shouts back 'I'm used to hunting Vampires, so sue me!'." Glenn did his best to imitate Blair in the worst possible way to get her going.

Blair gasped when he imitated her. "I do not sound like that!"

Daryl was more focused on the part where she claimed to have hunted Vampires before. "Vampires don't exist."

"Not in this reality," Blair countered. "And, excuse me, but we're living in the world where the dead are walking. Are Vampires really _that_ big of a stretch?"

"What did you do before all this?" Lori wanted to know. "How did you wake up in the hospital?" She didn't care about all this Vampire nonsense. She wanted to know how she was the only other person in that hospital to survive.

Blair's face contorted a bit in an 'eh' sort of way. "Yeah…that kinda gets complicated. I woke up in that hospital room with a 'Jane Doe' ID tag on my wrist. I don't know how I ended up there. I can honestly say that one second I was in my friend's living room in Virginia and the next I woke up in the hospital room next to Rick."

"So you don't remember anything between?" Andrea asked curiously since this was the first she heard about any possible memory issues.

Blair shook her head. "Nope. But, Lori, to answer your question I was a waitress…among other things." She turned around and walked backwards as she said, "How did this turn into a 'get to know Blair day'? How about someone else takes a turn?"

No one was quick to share so Andrea changed the subject. "How much further to the interstate?"

"Not far," Daryl answered. "Maybe about a hundred yards, as the crow flies."

Andrea muttered something about them not being crows and accidentally veered off from the rest of the group. It wasn't until a Walker went after her that they realized it because she was screaming in terror.

"Andrea!" Blair called out and started running with the others to find her. When they arrived, a woman on horseback came riding over and whacked the Walker right in the head. "Damn…that's hot," Blair thought aloud when she saw it happen.

The woman on horseback called out for Lori, told them that Carl had been shot, and where to find them.

Blair felt sick to her stomach when she heard Carl had been shot. She _knew_ something had happened and prayed Carl would be alright.

Daryl told the others to hurry up and get back to the interstate and at that moment, the Walker sat up and started snarling and groaning. "Shut up," Daryl said to the Walker before shooting it right in the head.

Blair couldn't help but think aloud, "That's hot, too."

* * *

The group made it safely back to the interstate and told Dale and T-Dog what happened. "Shot? What do you mean shot?" Dale asked in shock.

"I don't know, Dale," Glenn breathlessly answered. "I wasn't there. All I know is this chick rode out of nowhere like Zorro on a horse and took Lori."

Dale couldn't believe this was happening. "You let her?" he asked Daryl in an accusing manner.

"Get off my ass, old man," Daryl shot back. "Rick sent her. She knew Lori's name and Carl's."

"I heard screams." Dale looked at Andrea. "Was that you?"

Andrea didn't answer and kept on going.

"She was attacked by a Walker," Blair explained as she climbed over the guardrail. "It was close, but no bites or scratches." She took a step and winced because a pain shot in her head at that moment, making her dizzy.

Glenn was the closest to her so he held onto her arms to steady her. "Blair? You okay?"

Daryl heard Glenn's words and went straight over. "What happened?"

"Nothing," Blair replied, waving them both off. "Just a headache. I'm not going to black out or anything."

"You don't know that," Glenn countered. "It's happened before."

"And it hasn't happened since," Blair defended. "I'm fine." She walked away from all of them and went over to the truck she slept in the night before to get her stuff out of it.

Yeah, she claimed she was fine but that wasn't entirely the case. What came with the pain and dizziness were memories – memories that weren't of herself from her reality…but this one.

Since the memories were fuzzy, Blair didn't put any more thought into them and summed it up as to it being a part of the spell. She just hoped it didn't mean she was going to be a permanent fixture because of them.

* * *

The group was all packed up and ready to go but Carol didn't want to leave. "I'm not going. We can't just leave."

"Carol, the group is split. We're scattered and weak," Dale replied, hoping to get her to see reason.

"What if she comes back and we're not here?" Carol retorted, thinking only of her daughter. "I could happen."

Andrea agreed with Carol. "If Sophia found her way back and we were gone, that would be awful."

Daryl thought about it and nodded. "Okay. We got to plan for this. I say tomorrow morning is soon enough to pull up stakes. Give us a chance to rig a big sign, leave her some supplies. I'll hold here tonight, stay with the RV."

"If the RV is staying, I am too," Dale added in.

Blair was admittedly torn because she wanted to go be with Rick and Carl but also wanted to stay in case Sophia came back. Finally, she made her choice, "I'm not going anywhere yet."

"I'm in," Andrea added, not intending to go anywhere.

"Well, if you're all staying…" Glenn began but Dale cut him off.

"Not you, Glenn. Take Carol's Jeep. We need to find this farm and reconnect with our people." Dale thought that was pretty important. "Also, you need to take T-Dog there and get him some antibiotics. That cut on his arm has gone from bad to worse. If he doesn't get medicine soon, he's going to die. It's simple as that."

"Why did you wait until now to say something?" Daryl asked as he returned from his bike with a bag of pills. "I got Merle's stash. Some kickass painkillers," he tossed those to Glenn, then another bottle to Dale, "Oxycycline. Not that generic stuff neither."

Blair leaned against the vehicle and crossed her arms in question. "The X, narcotics, and all that other stuff I get, but why would Merle carry around high-grade antibiotics?"

Daryl answered that question like it was no big deal. "Merle would get the Clap on occasion."

Blair snapped her fingers in an 'a ha' manner. "Now I get it." When Daryl walked away with the bag of drugs, she moved away from the car saying, "Hey Daryl, since you're passing out drugs and all, how about a little of that X?"

Glenn and the others couldn't tell if she was serious or not but none of them said a word, even though it was clear they were all wondering the same thing.

When Blair caught up with Daryl, he asked her, "You serious?"

"No," Blair laughed. "I just figured it'd give them something to talk about to keep their minds off Sophia and Carl."

"And what are you going to do to keep your mind off things?" Daryl inquired as he returned the pills back to the bag on the motorcycle.

Blair crossed her arms and shrugged. "I hadn't really thought about it. Open to suggestions."

Daryl leaned back against the car beside Blair and crossed his own arms. With a grin cracking his expression, he said, "I spy with my eye…"

Blair rolled her eyes with a laughing, "Oh my god," before caving and playing the game with him again. After all, it was a distraction. Hey, whatever works.

* * *

End Season 2 Episode 2


	9. Distracting

As Blair slept that night, memories of her life from this reality flooded her mind. It was so odd because things were similar to her own reality and yet different enough for her to tell them apart. When she got to a relationship that was an echo of a painful one from a past life, she jolted upright, breathing heavily.

It took her a minute to realize she was sitting at the table in Dale's RV across from Andrea who was dealing with loading up the guns. "Sorry…" Blair muttered as she wiped her face to make sure she hadn't drooled or anything.

"Must have been one hell of a dream," Daryl pointed out from the floor beside her. He couldn't sleep either because of Carol sobbing in her sleep, so he spent most of the time thinking and more recently trying to wake up Blair. "Nothing was waking you up." He propped himself up on his arms and looked at her. "What was it?"

"I still have the penny," Blair replied as she stood up from the table. She heard Carol's sobs and made a decision. "I'm going to look for Sophia."

"I'm coming with you." Daryl intended on doing that at some point anyway, but he didn't want Blair to wake up to find him gone after whatever the hell she was dreaming about.

"Here," Andrea said to Daryl as she handed him over a loaded clip for his gun. "I'll stay behind in case Carol wakes up."

Blair nodded, indicating that she heard her, then grabbed a flashlight and walked out with Daryl right behind her.

When they walked out of the RV, Dale asked from his lookout spot on the roof, "Where are you going?"

"We're gonna walk the road, shine some light into the woods. If Sophia's out there, it'll give her something to look at," Daryl answered as he turned his flashlight on.

"You sure that's such a good idea right now?" Dale wanted to know.

Blair returned the Katana's scabbard to her back, snapping at Dale, "We're doing it, Dale. And don't need your approval."

"I wasn't…" Dale began but Blair cut him off.

"I'm sorry," she said as she rubbed her forehead. "I didn't mean to snap."

Dale understood that she was going through a lot, especially after the loss of her father. "Don't worry about it."

"Later, Dale." Blair gave him a bit of a wave then headed for the road that went through the woods. The feeling that they would find Sophia at some point hadn't gone away. If only she had some sort of idea as to _when_ , then she'd feel better about the whole thing.

* * *

Daryl and Blair walked down the forest road in silence for awhile until finally Blair asked, "What are you thinking?"

Daryl responded to that by holding his hand out for the penny with a little smirk.

Blair rolled her eyes with a mild chuckle before pulling the penny from his pocket and dropping it into his hand.

Daryl closed his hand around the coin as he said, "I was wondering what you were thinking about."

"Bullshit," Blair retorted, not believing a word of it.

"It's true," he answered honestly. "So, you gonna tell me or what?"

Blair answered without asking for the penny back. "I was thinking about Sophia. I feel it in my bones that we're going to find her, I just wish it'd happen soon."

Daryl shined his light on Blair to get a better look at her face and could see she meant her words. "You don't have the same look as everyone else. I wasn't expecting that."

"I don't _always_ think the worst, Daryl," Blair defended, using her hand to block his light. "Sometimes I can even have a bubbly personality."

Daryl chuckled in disbelief, "Right."

"It's true. You can blame Caroline for that." Blair cleared her throat, giving her a moment to think about Caroline when she was alive and now how she found her dead.

"Who's Caroline?" Daryl wanted to know.

"My girlfriend. At least, she was." Blair answered without hesitation because she wanted him to know. "She died a long time ago."

Daryl stopped and looked at her in thought. "Jeeze. How many people did you know died?"

"More than I care to admit." Blair's voice was filled with regret. "What can I say? – I'm cursed. You scared of me yet?"

"Nope," he replied and kept on walking. "Everyone's got their own curses."

Blair really couldn't argue with that and kept looking around for Sophia. "How well did you know her? Sophia, I mean."

"Not well, but she seemed like a tough kid. Besides, people get lost all the time and survive." Daryl shone the light into the trees as he told Blair a bit of his history. "Hell, I was younger than her when I got lost. Nine days in the woods eating berries, wiping my ass with poison oak."

"And they found you?" Blair asked, wanting to hear more.

"My old man was off a bender with some waitress," he answered. "Merle was doing another stint in Juvie. Didn't even know I was gone. I made my way back though. Went straight into the kitchen and made myself a sandwich. No worse for wear. Except my ass itched something awful."

Blair thought that was something horrible for a child to go through but his remark about his ass made her laugh. She quickly clapped her hand over her mouth before apologizing. "I'm sorry. That's a horrible story."

Daryl didn't take any offense to it and laughed himself, allowing her to finish getting her laughter out. He'd have to make her to laugh more often because he enjoyed the sound of it.

Getting back to his story, he said, "Only difference is Sophia's got people looking for her. I call that an advantage."

"Anyone having you looking out for them has an advantage." Blair didn't realize how cheesy that was until it came out of her mouth, but Daryl pointed it out.

"That was so cheesy, Han." Daryl then teased her, "I expected better from you."

"Never expect anything from anyone," Blair answered, based off past experiences. "That way you're never disappointed."

"Not a way to live though," Daryl countered and found he wanted to learn more about her. She tended to say a lot and yet was a challenge to know.

"True." Blair had to give him that but there was something else she had to add, "But sometimes it's the only way you can survive."

* * *

Things were quiet for a bit until they heard some rustling. Blair drew her sword and followed Daryl's lead since he had his crossbow and came upon a little camping area. It didn't take long for them to find the source of the rustling – It was a Walker hanging from a tree nearest the tent.

Daryl went over to the tree and shined his light on the note that was nailed into the trunk. "Got bit. Fever hit. World gone to shit. Might as well quit."

"Poor guy," Blair said as she shined the light on the snarling Walker, "He was a poet and he didn't even know it."

"Dumbass didn't know enough to shoot himself into the head," Daryl added in. "Turned himself into a big swinging bag of meat."

"That's gnarly." Blair moved a little closer to check out the Walker's legs that were almost completely removed of flesh. "Our local poet here became a Walker party's piñata." She raised Katana and pointed it towards the Walker. "Should we put him down or leave him?"

"He ain't hurting nobody," Daryl said with a dismissive wave. "He made his choice – Opted out. Let him hang."

Blair shrugged in a 'fair enough' and returned it to the Saya on her back as Daryl asked her, "Where did you learn to use that?"

"You first," Blair countered. "How'd you learn to shoot?"

"Gotta eat," he answered. "That's one thing these Walkers and us have in common. I guess it's the closest he's been to food since he turned." Daryl shined the light of her now. "Your turn."

"I've had a lot of people in my life that taught me different survival techniques. Fighting with a sword was just par for the course." Okay that was just part of the truth but if Blair told him _everything_ he'd think she was insane.

"I ain't gonna get anything else out of you am I?" Daryl wanted to.

Blair shook her head as she shone her light into the tent to see if there was anything useful in there. "There's nothing else to tell. Once you live a thousand lifetimes sometimes the details don't matter."

Daryl had no idea what she was talking about but didn't pay any more mind to it. "Come on. Let's get back to the road."

Blair didn't find anything useful in the tent and caught up with him. She wanted to share something with him that actually meant something, so she said, "I have a brother Jeremy – well, he's as close to a brother as he can get since he was Elena's brother. But anyway, as weird as it sounds…Carl reminds me of him. Jeremy wanted to grow up too fast, take on too much, just like Carl. I think that's partly why I decided to stay – not just to look for Sophia but because…if Carl doesn't survive and I was there to see it, I…"

Daryl touched her arm to get her to stop walking and talking because her voice was starting to break. "I get it. And hey, listen, Carl is gonna be just fine. He's gonna make it and we're gonna find Sophia. You hear me?"

Blair nodded her head with a sniffle and believed him. A sudden desire waved over her and she quickly moved closer to Daryl to kiss his lips. What started out as an act of impulse soon turned into something more meaningful.

When their lips parted, Daryl teased her by saying, "You're distracting me. Come on."

Blair stayed behind for a moment and shined her flashlight on Daryl's ass as he walked away.

It didn't take Daryl long to realize Blair wasn't walking with him. When he turned around and saw her just standing there, he asked, "What the hell are you doing?"

"I was checking out your ass," Blair answered with a grin as she walked past him, "What can I say? You're pretty distracting as well."

* * *

When they returned to the RV Blair felt horrible when she saw a sobbing Carol leave the RV's roof to go inside. She was familiar with having that kind of hope only to get it torn apart again and again. She couldn't go inside just yet so she told Daryl, "I'll keep watch. Try and get some sleep."

Daryl just nodded in reply before he gave her a peck on her cheek.

Blair squeezed Daryl's hand and held onto it until she had to let go then headed around to the back of the RV. She stopped when Dale looked at her with a curious expression on his face. "Oh, don't give me that look. Stranger relationships have happened."

"Not that I know of," Dale replied and at her glare, he held up his hands in surrender and turned around to find Andrea.

"Trust me," Blair muttered as she climbed up the ladder, "stranger relationships have happened."

As Blair settled in the lawn chair on the roof and kept watch, her mind went back to her memories of this reality. They were starting to get clearer now and not as foggy like it was when she tried to remember a dream. She remembered that in this reality she was indeed from Virginia and came to Georgia to find her father. What happened after Blair got onto the bus is still a blur but it was something.

It was weird for her to remember this stuff because it was like memories from a past life – they were all a part of her and yet weren't her life at all. But this was her life now, until the spell sent her home – _if_ it ever sent her home. It made sense that it'd give her some details so she wouldn't be flying blind, not that it really mattered anymore. Then again…maybe it did.

* * *

End Season 2 Episode 3


	10. Bonnie

Rick was asleep in the chair next to Carl's bed. When he felt a hand on his shoulder to awaken him, the first thing that came from his mouth was, "Blair?"

"No," Lori snapped back. "It's just me. Sorry to disappoint you."

Rick rubbed his face because this was par for the course between them since she arrived because he asked if Blair had come with Lori and Maggie. "I'm not disappointed, Lori."

"And yet the first person you ask for is that 'Partner' of yours." Lori used air quotes around Partner because she did not like the fact they referred to each other as such.

Before Rick could say anything else, Lori scoffed. "I'm done fighting with you about that – that girl. I get you feel some sort of responsibility for her because you both woke up at the same time, but dammit Rick she's nothing! She's nothing to us. I am your wife and Carl is your son – We should be number one on your list of responsibilities. Not some headcase."

Rick took a deep breath to contain the temper he felt towards Lori at how she spoke about Blair. "Blair is not nothing." He had a lot more to say about that but didn't want to argue anymore, so instead he said, "In case you've forgotten, _Blair_ was the one who convinced her father to let us all go. If that doesn't at least earn her a bit of respect it at _least_ earns her some slack."

Their…'discussion' about this was interrupted by Hershel coming in to check on Carl. "Sorry if I'm interrupting anything."

"You're not," Lori answered. "How's Carl doing?"

Hershel proceeded with his examination of Carl. "His fever's gone down. He should be just fine."

Just then Carl started to wake up. He looked at his parents and asked, "Sophia? Is she okay?"

"Fine," Rick answered, even though he had no idea if that was the truth or not. "She's fine."

Lori cut him off from saying anything else. "Rest," she said lovingly to Carl. "We'll be right here, okay?"

Carl closed his eyes, weakly answering, "Okay," before falling back asleep.

T-Dog walked in at that moment to give them some news. "They're here."

Rick went outside with Lori, Hershel, and the others to greet the rest of their group. He was still a bit sore towards Blair because she didn't come. Yes, he knew he didn't ask for her specifically to come when Maggie went out to get Lori, but he thought for sure that she would. When Glenn and T-Dog arrived without her, he thought something had happened to her. Hearing that she chose not to come was like a kick in the gut.

As he walked down the porch steps, Blair asked him, "Is Carl alright?"

Rick looked to the ground because he couldn't look at her right then. Lori caught this and answered for him. "He'll pull through. Thanks to Hershel and his people."

"And Shane," Rick added in, looking towards his friend. We'd have lost Carl if not for him."

"Thank the deity of your choice," Blair said with relief and moved to hug Rick but he went past her to hug Dale instead. Blair awkwardly stepped away because she had no idea what that was all about.

"How'd it happen?" Dale wanted to know.

"A hunting accident," Rick answered. "That's all – just a stupid accident."

Glenn noticed how Rick pretty much snubbed Blair, so he went over to her and placed his cap on her head. "Any luck with Sophia?"

"No," Blair answered regretfully. "But one way or another, we'll find her." She took his cap off her head and returned it to Glenn's with a smile. "I'm sure of it."

* * *

While Blair was helping set up camp, she was trying to figure out what Rick's behavior was about. As far as she knew, she hadn't done anything wrong so it must be residual worry about Carl. She heard a whistle and looked up to see Daryl off a ways. He gave her a bit of a wave so she returned it with a smile. Whatever was going on between them was certainly unexpected but she was most glad it was happening.

Glenn saw this exchange and how they looked at each other even at a distance. Finally he sucked it up and chose that moment to talk to her. Glenn abandoned his tent building duties and went over to Blair. "You got a sec? I need to talk to you."

Blair heard how Glenn's tone was as serious as his expression so she gave him the time. "Yeah. What's up?"

Glenn answered her by cocking his head for her to follow.

Blair raised her brow a bit in confused curiosity and followed him. "Everything okay, Glenn?" She wanted to know what was going on but he didn't answer her until they were out of earshot from everyone else.

When Glenn turned to face her he looked all nervous and this made Blair say, "Whoa, dude, seriously, what's going on?"

Glenn's words came out a mile a minute because he was really nervous to tell her what he was about to but came right out with it anyway. "I like you Blair. I mean, I think I _really_ like you. But I see how you and Daryl are now and while I think that's insane for a number of reasons I don't want to get in the middle of anything and if I don't have a chance with you I would really like to know now so I'll have time to get over you and move on."

Blair blinked a few times for several reasons. Not just because Glenn just said he liked her, but how he managed to all of that in one breath.

At her lack of response, Glenn asked, "Did I just break your brain?"

Blair took both hands and moved some hair behind her ears before clearing her throat. "Glenn…I like you, I do, but not like that. Even if whatever it is between me and Daryl wasn't there, that wouldn't change." She rubbed her face with a groan because that sounded so harsh. With a deep breath, she added in, "Let me explain this better. Okay, so back home I had a group of important friends but we were more than that – we were family. But…they were more than that, too. They were my _Pack_. That's what we called ourselves. Because while we had friends and family _the most_ important people were Pack. And you, Glenn, are a part of that. I'm sorry it can't be…more."

Glenn was disappointed that she didn't feel the same way, despite already figuring it would be the case. But hearing Blair's explanation made him feel better, so he grinned, "Your Pack, huh? So does that make you the Alpha or something?"

Blair chuckled, glad Glenn was taking this so well, and answered, "Just the Alpha? Oh, no, dude. I'm the Alpha Bitch."

* * *

Blair was getting some water from the house well since Dale and T-Dog were collecting in bulk from the other well used for the cattle. She was finishing up filling a jug when Daryl came over to her, saying, "I'm going out to look for Sophia."

"Alone?" Blair didn't think that was such a great idea for anyone to go out solo.

"I work better alone," Daryl answered. "Besides, can't have your ass distracting me this time."

As he walked away, Blair called out, "Wait," and closed the gap between them. She pulled the bandana out of her hair and handed it over to him. "Never know when you might need one."

Daryl wrapped it around his wrist and used his teeth to help him tie it in place. "I'll be back before dark."

"Let me know if you run into any more piñata poets," Blair joked, referring to the last time they went looking for Sophia.

Daryl shook his head with a light chuckle before continuing on her way.

Blair watched him go for a few moments before turning back to finish getting the water to bring back to their camp. With that done, Blair went over to the house because she saw Rick sitting on the porch steps.

"You okay?" Blair asked him once she was close enough. "You seem…different."

Rick scoffed a bit before getting to his feet. "Where were you?"

Blair wasn't sure what he meant by that question. "What do you mean?"

"When you heard about Carl you didn't come," Rick shot back. "Not even with Glenn and T-Dog. Why didn't you come? We're supposed to be Partners and you didn't come!"

Blair wasn't expecting that kind of response and it took her a moment to process and answer. "You had your wife with you, Rick – Carl's mother. If I was needed here then I would have been sent for. And besides that, I was trying to find Sophia because Carol is a wreck and at least that's something I could do. On top of that, Carl reminds me of my brother—I couldn't stand by and watch if anything happened to him." Blair crossed her arms and scoffed heavily. "Are these reasons good enough for you or shall I continue?"

Rick rubbed his face and sighed heavily. "I'm sorry. I just…I could have used you here. Not just for Carl – for me. You would have found something to say to make me feel better or confuse the hell out of me for distraction."

Blair went over to Rick and hugged him. "I got your back, Partner. Always. Even when I'm not here. Okay?"

Rick nodded as he hugged her, feeling better already. It didn't last for long because of what Blair had to say next.

When they pulled from their embrace, Blair put her hands on the back of her hips and said, "I'm going to look for Sophia, too."

Rick shook his head. "No. You're not going out there alone."

"You let Daryl go off alone," Blair countered, now crossing her arms. "There is nothing to stop me from looking for her, Rick. I'll be fine. So don't worry and I'll be back before dark."

Rick knew better than to try and stop her because he figured one way or another she'd find a way to do it. "Will you take someone with you, or at least a map?"

"I've survived in the woods without a lookout or map before," Blair answered as she started walking away backwards. "I'm _pretty_ sure I can do it again."

* * *

Blair made sure to go in the opposite direction Daryl went in so they wouldn't cross paths and cover more ground. She'd walked for a long while and hadn't found sign of anything yet. She went in one direction for longer than she should have because it was starting to get late, but something just kept her going in that direction. It was like playing a game of 'Hot & Cold' with her gut. The further she went in the direction she was going the stronger the feeling in her gut was.

She stayed in that same direction until she randomly took a turn and walked out of the trees , coming out in the backyard of an old farmhouse. Blair wasn't sure what to expect so she pulled out her Katana to be on the safe side.

Blair quietly made her way into the house but with one step on a creaky floorboard that all changed. Blair gasped when a huge, barking St Bernard dog came running right towards her. "Back off, Cujo!" she shouted at the K9 with her sword aimed at it in case it was rabid or anything.

If the dog wasn't a shock enough for Blair, the woman who came running after it was. "Buddy, quiet!" Bonnie Bennett ordered the dog and a second later the dog went to her side and sat down beside her.

Blair stood there, thinking this was some kind echo like her father was. "Nice dog," she said sarcastically, keeping her weapon raised.

"Nice sword," Bonnie answered back. "Channeling Kaia with that one?" At Blair's widened eyes, Bonnie added in, "Yeah, it's me from our real reality. And we need to talk. Starting with…"

Bonnie trailed off and turned around when a little girl came in. A girl Blair instantly recognized. "Sophia!" Blair exclaimed and rushed right over to her to hug her tight. "We've been looking all over for you."

Sophia hugged Blair back but didn't say anything because she was still a bit scared after all that happened.

"I found her soon after I arrived. She was being chased by a group of Walkers. I used the last of my alter's ammo on them and we've been hiding out here. I have no idea where the interstate is, so I thought it'd be best to stay here until a better plan came to mind." Bonnie went over to Sophia with a bottle of water, saying. "Sweetie, why don't you see if Buddy needs some water so I can talk to my friend here. Okay?"

"Then we can see my mom?" Sophia wanted that more than anything.

Bonnie looked at Blair in question because she didn't know.

Blair instantly told Sophia. "Your mom is safe and I know where she is. I'll take you to her real soon. I promise."

Sophia smiled and went into the other room with Buddy, rubbing his head as they went.

Once she was out of the room, Blair asked Bonnie, "How are you here? The _real_ you. I've already run into this reality's version of my father. That – that didn't end well."

Bonnie sat on the tattered sofa with Blair before saying anything. "I was able to translate the rest of the spell and the details of it all. There are versions of everyone from our reality in this one, so this Bonnie and your dad aren't the only people from Mystic Falls you might run into."

"So you came into the spell to tell me this?" Blair had a feeling there was more than she was saying.

"No," Bonnie admitted. "I came into the spell to tell you I only had one chance to pull you out and since you chose to come back in there's only one way for you to leave it – Your alter has to die."

"You mean I have to die," Blair corrected, not liking this idea one bit.

"You're basically possessing this reality's version of you so you won't die – she will. You'll wake back up in Mystic Falls and hopefully forget this ever happened." Bonnie really wanted this to be the plan but with one look on Blair's face, she should see it wasn't going to be that simple. "You're still not coming back, are you?"

"No," Blair answered firmly and got to her feet. "And I'm going to take you to meet all the reasons why I'm not." Before Bonnie could say anything, Blair called out, "Sophia! You ready to get back to your mom?"

Sophia darted back into the room and nodded excitedly, looking so forward to being with her mom again.

* * *

They raided the house for supplies before heading out which made things even later now. Blair told Rick she'd be back before dark and it was already starting to get as such so there was no way she'd be able to keep her promise. She took the liberty to assume she wouldn't get her head bitten off for it since she found Sophia.

As they walked through the woods with the dog sticking close to Sophia, Blair asked Bonnie, "Where did the dog come from?"

"He was walking with me when I 'woke up' in this reality," Bonnie answered as she fixed the strap of the bag full of supplies. "I'm guessing he belongs to my alter." She gave Blair a questioning look. "Have the memories started coming through? The spell made note the longer one stays in the alternate reality the more memories from their alter they gain."

"A few," Blair answered, not wanting to get into details, and then she changed the subject. "Back to what you said at the house, are you seriously telling me that you're going to let yourself die just to go back to Mystic Falls?"

"That's the only way out of here for me since I'm not there to pull me out of it." Bonnie had issues with it, for sure, but she was willing to do whatever was necessary in order to get back home. "I'm not going to beat around the bush about this, Blair. I'm here to bring you home. And if I don't succeed then I'm pretty sure there's at least a half a dozen other people who are willing to get sent here to try."

"Don't judge my decision," Blair shot back. "You don't know what I've been through since coming here and the allies I've made. I'm as much a part of this reality as I am in ours."

"I woke up to find Romero Zombies chasing after a little girl!" Bonnie shouted at her, trying to get through that thick skull of hers. "I'm pretty sure I have an idea of what you've been through."

"No!" Blair fiercely retorted. "You have **no idea**. You've been here for – what – a minute? You have no freaking idea what it's really like here."

Bonnie was about to say something else but Blair pressed a hand against her mouth and shushed her with the other.

"What's out there?" Sophia sounded terrified as she moved closer to Blair because Buddy was barking crazy at something in the distance.

Blair pulled the flashlight out of her bag and shined it ahead of them to find four Walkers moving right towards them. "Go! Go! Go!" She repeated over and over as she scooped up Sophia and took off running with her.

They ran as far as they could before running into another small group. "Shit!" Blair exclaimed and led them another way.

"Blair, wait!" Bonnie shouted and took off her bags, shoving them towards her. "You take her and go!"

"Bonnie!" Blair couldn't believe this was something she actually wanted to do. "I'm not going to let you be Walker bait!"

Bonnie pointed firmly at Blair saying, "This isn't your reality." She took off running, shouting, "I'll see you back in Mystic Falls!"

"Bonnie!" Blair shouted again and again but Bonnie didn't answer her. She wanted to run off to find her and help her, but she had to get Sophia back to Carol.

"Dammit!" Blair seethed with tears in her eyes as she gathered up the bags, took Sophia's hand, and took off running with the dog running right along with them.

* * *

It was well past dark now and back at the farmhouse, Daryl had lost all patience with Rick. He was still fuming from hearing that Rick had let her go off looking for Sophia alone. "I'm going to find her." His words were firm as he spoke to Rick while getting his crossbow ready. "Why'd you let her go?!"

"Do you really think I could have stopped her? Could anyone have?" Rick was worried about Blair but he still believed that she would have gone with or without telling him.

Daryl looked at Rick like he was about to beat the crap out of him but stopped thinking and feeling that when he heard barking in the distance. When he saw who was walking behind the dog out of the treeline, he almost couldn't believe it. "I'll be damned."

As Daryl went running towards Blair and Sophia, Rick went to the RV to get Carol.

"Mama!" Sophia cried out as soon as Carol came into view and ran as fast as she could to get to her.

Blair let her go since they were safe now and dropped her bags as Daryl approached. She watched Carol and Sophia's tear-filled reunion for a moment before turning her attention to Daryl. "Sorry I'm late," was her breathless greeting.

Daryl didn't respond to that other than wrapping his arms around Blair to pull her close. "You're gonna be a handful, aren't you?"

Blair laughed lightly as she hugged him back. "You ain't seen nothing yet."

Daryl wasn't surprised to hear that. When they pulled apart, he asked another question. "Where did you find her?"

Blair instantly thought of Bonnie and hated not knowing what exactly happened to her. "You still got that liquor we found on the highway?" At Daryl's nod, she added in, "Good. Because I'm gonna need it to get through explaining what happened."

* * *

End Season 2 Episode 4


	11. Son of a bitch

Blair laid in her tent thinking about the night before. Everything Bonnie said and did, finding Sophia, and everything else was going through her mind. Admittedly she had a slight headache from the bottle of whatever she shared with Daryl the night before. Blair left out everything about the spell of it all, but how Bonnie found Sophia first and later used herself as bait so they could get away was definitely a part of it.

The thing that was most upfront in her mind at the moment was indeed Bonnie – if Bonnie survived then she was going to need help. If she didn't survive then Blair wanted to bury the body. If Bonnie was a Walker then…Well, Blair couldn't even think of that. All she could think about was finding her friend whatever the outcome.

Finally, Blair had enough of just laying in the tent with her mind running amuck so she gathered up her things and left it. As soon as Blair stepped out of the tent, Carol was standing there holding onto Sophia. She wasn't even able to get a word out before Carol started talking.

"I can't express how much this means to me. Thank you so much for finding my little girl." Carol was on the verge of tears again so she cut what she wanted to say short. "Thank you, Blair."

"Don't thank me," Blair answered as she put her arms through the straps of the Saya. "Bonnie was the one that saved her from a group of Walkers. All I did was bring her home." She went into her messenger bag and pulled out a couple cans of dog food to hand over to Carol. "Found these in the house last night. In case you decide to keep the dog."

Since Blair didn't have anything else to say she smiled at Sophia and went to find something to eat.

Sophia darted from Carol's side to catch up with Blair. "Wait," she said meekly then held out a little flower to her. "Thank you. You saved me too."

Blair crouched down in front of Sophia and smiled as the girl put the flower in her hair. She hugged Sophia and kissed the top of her head before continuing on her way.

After snagging something from the campfire to eat she heard Rick talking to Daryl and the others about search grids and whatnot. "What's going on?" Blair asked as she approached them. Upon seeing the map on the on the hood of the car, she added in, "Sophia's back in case you missed the memo."

"We know that," Andrea sighed in exasperation. "For your information Rick is getting us to look for your friend."

"It was Daryl's idea," Rick interjected, giving credit where it was due. "Your friend found Sophia and kept her safe. The least we can do is try and find her."

This was what Blair wanted but she was afraid of what they would find. "This isn't your responsibility. I can go look for her alone."

"You missed curfew last time," Daryl added in with a bit of a serious tone. "You ain't going nowhere alone."

Blair couldn't believe they were all serious about this. "You're all really risking to go look for someone you've never met before? Have zero ties to?"

"She's your friend, isn't she?" Rick asked, looking at her seriously.

Blair returned Rick's look with one of her own. "She's more than that – She's Pack."

Glenn mentioned to Rick how Blair refers to the most important people in her life as Pack, so hearing this didn't surprise him. "Well, then, she's a part of our Pack too."

Daryl cut in there to point at the map. "Blair and I can borrow a couple of horses to ride up to this ridge here, not too far from where they split up. Get a bird's eye view of the whole grid. If she's out there we'll see her." He looked at Blair asking, "Any objections?"

Blair shook her head. "I'll be ready in less than five. And, everyone…thank you." She went off to get bag she left near the campfire while Daryl and the others talked about a Chupacabra.

* * *

Blair and Daryl rode in silence for a bit before she finally broke the silence. There was something she wanted to know and finally came right out to ask it. "First I'm a distraction and next I can't go anywhere alone. What the hell is that about?"

Daryl kept on going ahead on the horse as he answered her. "You were the one who broke curfew."

"That is not an answer, Daryl." When he continued to not answer her, she rode in front of him to block his path. "I don't need to follow curfews. I don't need a chaperone. And I sure as hell don't need knight with a crossbow to protect me. I've been protecting myself for a _long_ time. I don't need a damn hero –all I need is a sword." Blair sarcastically gasped and pointed to her back, "Well, look at that. I already have one."

Blair's face hardened a little bit before turning her horse back on track to keep looking for Bonnie.

Daryl caught up with her and this time he was the one who blocked her path. "I ain't trying to be a hero, dammit. When I kissed you, you told me I shouldn't have 'cause now you were terrified of losing me. Nothing scares me but one thing now – losing you. Like I said, I ain't trying to be a damn hero – I'm just doing what I got to to keep you alive."

Blair was about to say something but stopped when she saw something down the ridge near the river. "Daryl…" she trailed off to point at what she was looking at.

Daryl turned around and saw it too. After giving her a look to say this conversation wasn't over, he got off his horse and tied it to a tree.

Blair followed suit and took a deep breath to try and prepare herself for what they might find. There were only three outcomes after all – Death, turned into a Walker, or miraculously alive.

The two of them went down the ridge and found a soaked large-sized denim jacket in the water. "That's Bonnie's," Blair instantly told him as she took the jacket from his hands. "She had it tied around her waist last night."

"Bonnie!" Blair called out, looking around. "Bonnie!" There was no answer so Daryl touched her arm to get her to move along. Clearly she wasn't there so they'd have to keep moving. Blair didn't put up a fight about this and went back up the ridge with him to return to the horses and resume their search.

Things were going quiet until a rattlesnake spooked the horses. Both Daryl and Blair were thrown from the horses as they reared up in fear, but while Blair landed right on the ground and hit her head on a rock while Daryl was thrown over the side of the ridge right down to the water.

Blair ignored the shooting pain in her head and went straight to the edge. She needed to blink her eyes a few times to clear the blurs of her vision then spotted Daryl at the bottom, clearly injured. "I'm coming!" she called out and started making her way down as safely as she could, her adrenaline pushing her through the pain. Finally she said, "Screw this," and moved to the wet rocks where a fast moving stream went right down. Blair pulled bent her knees and had her hands ready to brace herself as she let the water send her the rest of the way.

Blair landed with a splash near Daryl and went right to him. "Son of a bitch," she said aloud as she saw his injuries – a gash to the head and his arrow straight through his side.

"That's what I said," Daryl groaned in pain.

"Believe it or not, I was a medic in a past life. I got this." Blair started going through her bag, adding in, "You planned on doing whatever it took to keep me alive, well guess what – now it's my turn."

"I believe you," Daryl said a bit breathlessly because it all hurt like hell.

"Finally wore you down, huh?" Blair asked with a bit of laughter as she started to tend his wounds as best she could with the first aid kit and other stuff she had on her.

"You tell the truth more than people think – you said that." Daryl winced and groaned at what she was doing to his side. "Bout time I believed you."

"I'm blaming this on the fact you probably have a concussion," Blair mildly teased. "I fully expect you to think I'm insane tomorrow." She winced a bit when Daryl groaned in pain from laughing. "Sorry."

Blair did all she could do in the water and needed him on dry land before dealing with the arrow – less chance of complications that way. "Come on, gotta get you to shore. Deep breaths."

"Son of a bitch," Daryl groaned as she helped him up and across the water to the shore beyond. Once on the sand, Blair took the jacket she said was her friend's and wrapped it around his waist and arrow before tying it tight. "Don't take it out yet," he warned her.

"Thought you believed me when I said I was in a medic in a past life," Blair countered with a raised brow. "In other words – I know that, jackass. There's a chance you could bleed out. Don't know the extent of your injuries and all." With that done, she looked up the high ridge and let out a deep exhale. "What I don't know is…how we're gonna get you up there."

Daryl looked up with her and so far…he didn't have a good idea either.

Blair left his side for a moment to grab a long and strong enough stick for Daryl to walk with. "Here."

"Thanks," Daryl answered and checked it himself to make sure it would support him.

Blair looked around them and asked, "Where's your crossbow?" They both looked back to the water where Daryl fell and Blair held up her hand to keep him from speaking as she said, "Don't say it. I'm already thinking it - Son of a bitch."

She pointed firmly at Daryl first then the shore, said "Stay," then went back into the water to find his weapon.

"I ain't no dog," Daryl called after her, in which Blair replied with, "I didn't tell you to sit!"

Daryl still had no idea _how_ he ended up feeling the way he felt for Blair but it there and it was growing. She irked the living hell out of him but would do anything for her. This was strange and confusing for Daryl and if he had to bet money on it, he'd bet it was the same for her.

He took his eyes off Blair as she searched the water for his crossbow when he heard some rustling nearby. Blair had warned them there was a group of Walkers out the night before and if this was them then they'd have a problem.

"Found it," Blair breathlessly said to him as she returned to shore. She rigged the strap of the crossbow to wrap around herself because Daryl would have enough trouble walking at it was. "Ready to climb Everest?"

"This ain't damn Everest," Daryl replied as they moved towards the less steep part – granted it was still steep but not as bad as the other places along the ridge.

"I hate to break it to you, Daryl, but for you it's gonna feel like it." Blair gave him a supportive pat on the back before helping him as much as she could to climb up to the ridge. She knew it'd hurt like hell for Daryl and wished she had some painkillers for him or something, but she didn't. When she got back she'd have to make a town run to see if there was anything she could find for future use.

Blair listed all these plans in her head to try and keep her from feeling like she got punched in the gut every time Daryl groaned in pain. Daryl being hurt like this was physical hell for him and mental hell for her – there was no doubt about that.

* * *

It took quite a bit of time to get halfway up but they were making it. Blair was started to get tired and her head was really starting to bother her now. She pinned herself between the earth and a tree to tie up her hair and that's when she realized her head was bleeding.

Daryl say the blood on her hand and demanded to know, "What happened?"

"I'm fine," Blair retorted and finished tying back her hair. "It's just a scratch." To prove it, she unwedged herself and started climbing again, only to be hit with sudden dizziness that made her lose her grip and fall the whole way down.

"Blair!" Daryl called out and saw she wasn't moving. He was halfway to the top but that didn't matter to him. Daryl wasn't going to just leave her there so he started making his way back down. He was going slow until he saw a Walker headed straight for Blair. "Screw this," he said just before letting himself roll down the hill. It was a better idea in his head but at least he got there in time.

Daryl went to Blair and took out her Katana to use on the Walker. Once he drove the blade into the head of the closest Walker, he spotted another in the distance. Without thinking twice, he pulled the arrow from his side, groaning in pain as he did so. He got his crossbow from Blair and after a bit of a struggle he armed it and fired – perfect shot in the head. It would have saved him a lot of time and struggle if he just used Blair's sword but for some reason he didn't. If asked why, he wouldn't have an answer for them.

* * *

When Blair woke up, she groaned like hell and rubbed her head. "What happened?" She looked around and saw they weren't at the bottom of the ridge anymore but at the top. Blair struggled into a sitting position and saw Daryl sitting back against a tree with the arrow missing from his side and his mouth covered with blood. "What happened?" she asked again.

"Prince Crossbow carried Princess Kickass to safety." That's all Daryl had to say about that, sarcastically making a bit of a reference to their previous conversation. He left out the parts where he hallucinated Merle saying a lot of shit, including Merle trying to convince him to let Blair die - something Daryl would never do.

"How?" Blair couldn't figure it out for the life of her.

"I'll tell ya later," Daryl answered and got to his feet to help Blair to hers. "Next time you're hurt, take that pride of yours and shove it."

Blair knew her ignoring what was wrong with her was the cause of what happened so she didn't refute this with him. "Noted." With a heavy breath, she rubbed her forehead and followed Daryl's lead. She couldn't explain it, but she felt like a switch or something was flipped in him while she was unconscious.

Blair was pulled from that thought when another popped into her mind. "The horses…you did check with Hershel before taking them, right?"

All Daryl had to do was look at her and she knew that he hadn't. "Oh…he's gonna be pissed."

Daryl scoffed, not caring. "Let him."

* * *

Daryl and Blair were both covered with blood and dirt and were exhausted by the time they got back to camp. It really didn't surprise Blair to find Rick, Shane, and a couple others running towards them with weapons at the ready because she and Daryl probably did look like a couple of Walkers.

Rick at his gun aimed at them and realized who it was. "Blair? Daryl? That you?"

"That's the third time you've pointed that gun at my face," Daryl shot back. "This time you gonna shoot me with it?"

Blair rolled her eyes and moved in front of Daryl saying, "Nobody's gonna get shot." A second later – she was.

Andrea fired a rifle shot from the RV back at camp and hit Blair in the head. Thankfully it was just a graze.

Blair fell to the ground as Rick cried out, "No! No!" over and over again.

"Who did that?!" Daryl shouted, demanding to know and ready to kill whoever it was.

"Apparently I lied," Blair groaned in reference of being shot before passing out again.

Rick and Shane picked up Blair and started bringing her back to camp as Andrea ran towards them shouting, "Oh my god! Oh my god! Is she dead?!"

"Unconscious," Rick explained and Daryl charged towards Andrea, shouting, "You did this to her! You could have killed her!" Daryl would have ripped Andrea apart if it wasn't for Glenn, T-Dog, and Dale keeping him back. Finally he stopped trying to get through them and pointed right at Andrea, threatening, "If you do so much as walk by her again I will kill you!"

Andrea felt horrible and now terrified because she believed he would.

* * *

Blair woke up in bed to find her wounds stitched, cleaned, and wrapped up. After a moment to get her eyes to focus, she saw Rick sitting in the chair beside the bed. "Wish I could say that was the first time I've gotten shot." She winced a bit as she pushed herself into a sitting position. "Hurts worse than I remember."

Rick quickly moved to sit on the bed with her, saying, "Careful. You've got a bunch of bruised ribs among other injuries."

"How's Daryl?" Blair asked. She was worried about him – especially since he was standing behind her when she got shot. "Is he alright?"

"He's fine," Rick assured her. "Hershel is stitching him up right now." He felt tears in his eyes as he looked at her. With a breaking voice, he took her hand, saying, "I thought I lost you, Partner."

Blair squeezed his hand as she used her other to wave off what he said. "Me? Nah. You can't get rid me that easily."

Rick rubbed her hand with his thumb before moving to kiss her head. "You almost died," he spoke softly as he rested his forehead against hers.

"I know," Blair answered as she closed her eyes.

"Don't do it again." Rick kissed her forehead then moved away to let Daryl and the others know she was awake.

Blair let out a deep breath and leaned back against the bed's headboard. "Noted."

* * *

While everyone was busy at the group dinner, Blair snuck out of her room and went across the hall to the room Daryl's was in. Without word or warning, she went into his room and climbed into bed, and wrapped her arm around him.

"Watch it," he said to her, not used to a tender action such as this, "I got stitches."

Blair kissed his shoulder before saying, "So do I. Now shut up."

Daryl moved his arm on top of hers and laced their fingers together.

Blair closed her eyes and leaned into Daryl's back, saying, "Thank you for trying to find Bonnie. And I'm so sorry you almost died because of me."

"You almost died, too." Daryl answered, turning his head a bit, trying to look at her. "We're even."

Blair chuckled lightly yet seriously, "I vote we try _not_ to die next time."

Daryl lifted her hand and kissed it before returning it to its place. "Noted."

* * *

End Season 2 Episode 5


	12. If

Blair sat outside her tent playing cards with Carl and Sophia before they went off to do their chores. Carol came over with a smile on her face, asking, "Whatcha playing?"

"Go Fish," Blair answered with a chuckle. "Everyone seems to know how to play that one."

Carol kissed the top of Sophia's head before saying to the three of them, "Have fun."

They all waved as she walked off then Carl asked disappointingly, "We're playing Go Fish?"

"Of course not," Blair grinned as she shuffled the cards. "Now listen up kiddies so you can learn a thing or two about Texas Hold'em. Speaking from experience, it can come in handy someday."

"If you're smart you'll listen to her," Daryl said from inside the tent. "She's a shark."

Sophia looked at Blair in question. "In all your stories you're a wolf." She sounded a little confused. "And Bonnie's a witch, right?" Just by how Sophia said Bonnie's name, it was evident she was worried about her, too.

"Werewolf," Blair corrected with a wink, thinking about the stories she'd been telling the kids about life in her reality. Granted they thought it was all made up, but it was still nice to talk about it. "And yeah, Bonnie's a witch in the best possible way. Now what Daryl said – He means I'm a card shark. And that is someone who pretty much never loses." She shuffled the cards a few more times and was about to deal them out when Andrea came over.

Andrea clearly looked like she felt horrible for what she did to Blair and asked the kids, "Mind giving me a sec to talk to Blair here?"

Carl and Sophia didn't put up an argument about that and went off to get their chores done now so they could play cards with Blair later.

"What's up?" Blair asked as she wrapped a hair-tie around the deck of cards before returning them to her bag.

"I know it's not much of a peace offering, but here." Andrea handed over one of the few books Dale had with him.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I've already read it." Blair gave it back to her. "It sucked."

"Yes, it did," Andrea laughed as she flipped through the pages. "Blair…I'm so sorry for what I did. I feel _horrible_."

"Welcome to the club," Blair replied in a joking manner, "I'd print up some club ID cards but I'm pretty sure the print shop is closed up indefinitely." In a more serious tone she added in, "Don't worry about it, Andrea. You did what you felt had to be done to protect the group. There's no bad blood here. And besides, I've been through worse and I'm still here."

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, huh?" Andrea asked, chuckling lightly.

Blair shrugged in a 'pretty much' manner. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

As Andrea started to walk away, Blair said to her, "Just something to keep in mind – If you ever shoot me again, I better be a freaking Walker when you do it."

Andrea nodded in a way that told Blair it was a deal, then went off without anything stopping her this time.

Blair gathered up her things and went into the tent. Daryl was laying back on one side of it whittling away at a piece of wood. "What are you working on?" she asked as she settled in.

"Nothin," Daryl answered as he put the stuff away.

"Nothin," Blair mocked with a chuckle since he didn't tell her what it was. "It's okay. I'm a wolf, not a cat, so curiosity isn't going to kill me."

Daryl propped himself up a bit and reached out to move back some of Blair's hair to check on the wound. "That's gonna scar."

"Wouldn't be the first one," Blair sighed, moving her head just out of his reach because she didn't really want to talk about it.

Daryl got the hint and put both his arms under his head as he laid back down. To change the subject, he filled her in on something. "The horses we stole came back this morning."

Blair scoffed an incredulous chuckle. " _You_ stole them. I thought they were borrowed. Granted I should have known better, but still."

Their conversation was cut short when Glenn came into the tent with a basket of peaches and jerky. "Here," he said to them, sounding all nervous and weird, as he handed out their shares before leaving.

"Can't even stand seeing the two of us together," Daryl scoffed in amusement. At Blair's 'excuse me' expression, he bit into a peach before pointing at Glenn outside, "A blind man could see he got a thing for you."

Blair couldn't put her finger on it but she had a gut feeling that wasn't it. "No…it's something else." She put her share in her bag and walked out of the tent to catch up with Glenn.

Daryl almost got up to go after her but decided against it because he knew by now not to mess with her gut.

Blair caught up with Glenn and pulled him aside from the others at camp, saying, "Spill it."

Glenn, once again, got all nervous and tongue-tied. "I – What? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Liar," Blair countered with crossed arms. "Spill it." She raised a brow to show she meant business and was expecting an answer.

Glenn had two secrets but he only spilled one of them to a degree. "Someone in camp is pregnant and I'm not supposed to tell anyone, but she won't tell the father and I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with this because if she won't let anyone take care of her then I should because I know right? I think I should make a town run for stuff she needs but I don't know what she needs and I'm literally freaking out right now."

Once again, Blair had to blink a few times because she was in awe at how he managed to get all that out as quietly as he did with one – maybe one and a half breaths. "Who's pregnant, Glenn?" That was the first place she could start.

Glenn forced his mouth closed and shook his head. "Nuh uh. Not saying. I've already said too much."

Blair rubbed her forehead with a sigh, saying, "Let me think. Let me think." After a deep breath she held her hands out to her sides, speaking with them as she said, "Okay, I don't _need_ to know. But since this is happening, and _if_ they intend to go through with it then, yeah, they're going to need stuff. Find me when you go to town and I'll help you find what's needed."

Glenn felt a bit of relief that he wasn't the only one with this secret anymore – even if Blair didn't know all the details. He knew better than to tell her Lori was pregnant because Blair would tell Rick in a heartbeat. However, when he heard how Blair intended to go to town with him he got a bit worried. "Are you sure you're up for that? I mean, you're still healing. Can't you just give me a list?"

When Blair hardened her face, showing once again that she meant business, he held up his hands and backed away from her. "I will let you know."

Blair smiled and patted his back as she walked past him. "Smart man."

"Smart has nothing to do with it," he said to her as she walked away. "It's all about survival!"

* * *

Blair sat at the campfire filling up the water bottles for future use when Rick came over and sat beside her. "You took Carl and Sophia to shoot?" she asked then waved her hand in a general direction. "I heard the debate earlier and was wondering about the outcome."

"Yeah. Pretty much everyone else came, too." Rick answered, accepting a water bottle from her. "Now, I've seen what you can do with a bow and a sword, what can you do with a gun? I'm not too keen on the idea of you learning right now when you should be resting, but I figured next time you'd come with or without an invitation."

"Don't worry about me, Partner. And I can do plenty with a gun," Blair replied before taking a sip from her own water. "Trust me, I don't need lessons. Save the bullets for the ones who need to learn."

Rick nodded in an 'okay' manner and changed topics on her. "We're still planning on looking for your friend."

"Rick, more people are just going to end up getting hurt. As much as I want to know what happened to Bonnie, I would rather imagine her alive than finding out she's dead." Blair got up from her seat and pointed firmly at him. "I mean it, Rick. No more search parties. Let me have this one delusion. Just this one. Please."

Rick got to his feet with a sigh. "I can't do that, Partner."

Blair walked right up to him and made herself as clear as she possibly could. " **Try**." She stormed off before he could say another word to her.

On the other side of the camp, Blair saw Lori practically running away from whatever Dale was cooking and she knew. "Oh, hell," she said to herself before going over to Lori.

Blair leaned against the tree Lori was sitting in front of, saying, "Morning sickness sucks, doesn't it?"

Lori looked like she was going to kill someone. " _Glenn_ …" she seethed.

"Don't blame him," Blair replied as she moved to sit on the ground in front of her with a bit of an uncomfortable groan. "He didn't tell me _who_ was pregnant. Running for the hills away from Dale's cooking gave it away."

"You _can't_ tell Rick." Lori begged this of her. "You can't. If anyone is to tell him, it's me."

"If you even tell him," Blair countered, "If you decide to go through with it. There are a hell of a lot of ifs in this situation. The biggest one I can think of is… _If_ Rick's the father."

Lori gasped when Blair said that. "What? How?"

"My first night at camp. You and Shane looked at each other like two people guilty with a secret. I went with my gut from there – It hasn't failed me once." Blair let out a deep sigh. "Look, I know we don't like each other much if at all. See there's another if. But that's not the point, look, Lori, I have your back in this, okay? Tell Rick, don't tell Rick, that's not up for me to decide. Keep the baby, don't keep the baby, again that's not up for me to decide. You need vitamins or something to induce a miscarriage, I will get it for you. I have your back in this."

Lori couldn't believe what she was hearing and her face practically screamed that at her. " _Why_?"

Blair needed a moment before answering that. "Let's just say I knew someone who was in a similar situation as yours. I didn't do right by them and I've regretted it to this very day. I'm fully capable of making mistakes, but I damn well try not to make them twice."

* * *

Later that day, Blair went with Glenn and Maggie into town. Lori admitted she needed some help and gave Glenn the list of what she wanted. Blair knew what was on the list and was going to plan for another 'if'. – _If_ Lori changed her mind.

While they went to the Pharmacy, Blair headed to the general store. "Where are you going? We're supposed to stick together," Glenn called out to her as she continued to ride her horse down the street.

"There's an 'if' I need to take care of," Blair answered without looking back. "I'll meet up with you in a few." She clicked her teeth to pick up the speed of her horse so Glenn couldn't try to keep her there.

Blair gently said, "Whoa," to the horse when they reached the store and got off. She tied off the rope and went into the store. Blair grabbed a basket near the door and started humming some cheesy music that she's heard played over store speakers more than once.

Blair went straight to the vitamins section and cleared the shelf of the prenatal ones then went to the baby section. There wasn't a large selection of diapers but she grabbed what she could along with what they had available for formula. She tapped her lips in thought then got an idea. Moving down the aisle she came upon the baby dose medicine and cleared it. It was obvious not many people thought about checking the baby section for Tylenol and such. Hell, it wouldn't be as strong but better than nothing if an adult needed it.

That was all she could take right now as far as baby stuff was concerned and went in search of other things she needed – Duct tape, bandanas, and shoelaces. All of which she found and felt pretty damn good about it. She also found some cigarettes and lighters and helped herself to those.

"Okay, Blair," she said to herself, "you're getting greedy now. Your bag can only hold so much." Even with agreeing with herself to end it there, she snagged a few more things before grabbing a couple cloth shopping bags and filled them up. Whatever didn't fit there she put in her messenger bag and went on her way.

Blair attached the bags to the horse's saddle, climbed aboard and went to the pharmacy. After tying off the horse, she headed inside. Blair was about to make some sort of joke upon entrance but the screams she heard coming from inside kept her from doing so.

Blair saw Glenn trying to save Maggie from a Walker in the back of the Pharmacy and she kicked herself into gear. She pulled out her Katana, ran like hell towards the back, did a fancy slide over the counter, and with one swift slice she cut the Walker's head right in half.

Blair breathed heavily as she looked over at Glenn comforting a freaking out Maggie. "Is anyone bit?" When neither of them answered, she shouted, "Is anyone bit?!"

"No," Glenn answered, finally looking at her. "Thank you." He thanked her for Maggie because Maggie was still crying and freaking out.

"If you were more focused on killing the Walker than running to your girlfriend then you wouldn't need to thank anybody," Blair shot back. "You got lucky this time. You might not be so lucky next time." She turned back to the Walker and forcefully drove her sword into both parts of the Walker's head for good measure before leaving the Pharmacy without another word.

* * *

Blair rode back to camp a lot faster on the horse than she should have and regretted it. She was sore as hell all over and her head was pounding. After returning the horse, Blair took the bags to camp and dropped one of them at Lori's feet. "Glenn has the stuff you asked for. This is for the 'if'." She didn't say anything else and went back to her tent.

Lori saw the diapers and formula in the bag and gasped before hiding it as quickly as she could.

Daryl sat up when Blair stormed into the tent. "What's eating you?"

"Eating me? Nothing," Blair snapped back. "But a Walker almost ate Glenn and Maggie. For someone who's so smart he can be such an idiot!" She winced heavily and held her head as she laid back on her sleeping bag.

It was plain as day that she was hurting. Daryl scoffed, "Speak for yourself. Your damn stubborn pride gonna kill you one day."

Blair crossed her arms over her face and groaned, "You're right," as she moved them down to her sides. Without even looking at Daryl, she knew what he was going to say. Blair pointed at him and stopped him before he began. "Don't say it and don't even try to make me repeat it because I'll never say it again."

Daryl laid back and chuckled. He waved his hand for her to come over. "C'mere."

"What if I don't want to?" Blair asked him with a bit of a snap.

Daryl's grin said to her 'you know you want to', and he repeated, "C'mere."

Blair sighed then smiled a little as she moved over to Daryl, resting her head on his chest as he wrapped his arm around her. "I should punch you for being a cocky son of a bitch."

Daryl chuckled at her words. "When you're better."

Blair closed her eyes, suddenly feeling very tired. But she managed to get out, "It's a date," before falling asleep.

* * *

Once more, while Blair slept, memories of her life in this reality flashed in her dreams. What the contents were this time made Blair awaken with a gasp. Seeing that Daryl was asleep, she slowly moved from his side and left the tent to get some air.

Blair left the camp and walked down to the field just to sit in the moonlight and think. She wasn't left with her thoughts for long before Rick approached and sat down beside her. She caught one look at his face and knew what was on his mind. "She told you."

"Yeah, she did," Rick answered. "Along with telling me that you knew and were going to support her no matter what she decided."

"She didn't lie there." Blair looked at Rick to ask him something serious. "What did Lori decide?"

"She's going to keep the baby." Rick sounded pleased yet worried.

Blair rested her head on Rick's shoulder and took his hand. "Don't worry, Partner. I'll look out for her. I give you my word that I will protect her for as long as I'm capable of doing it."

Rick squeezed her hand as he said, "Thank you, Partner."

Blair's answer to that was simple. At least…it was for her. "That's Pack." Lori being pregnant officially made her a part of Blair's Pack because she wasn't going to let history repeat…she couldn't.

* * *

End Season 2 Episode 6


	13. I'm so sorry

Blair moved out of her tent that morning and stretched a little – something she regretted because she was still a bit sore. She looked around the camp and saw how everyone was already munching on their breakfast. Suddenly something unfamiliar caught her eye. There was a young boy – around Carl's age if she had to guess – with wavy blondish hair sitting under a tree away from the rest of the group. This was definitely the first time she'd ever seen this kid.

Since she wanted to find out who he was, she went over to Dale and asked, "Who's the kid?"

"You haven't heard?" Dale answered then remembered. "Oh, of course not. You were passed out when Shane and Andrea came back yesterday with him."

Blair was getting a bit impatient and her tone made this clear. " _Dale_."

Dale answered her question then. "They found him yesterday in the housing development they were checking out. Poor kid was all alone – made a barricade in his house. As far as Shane and Andrea could tell, he was the only one alive."

"Oh, hell." Blair felt horrible for the kid and also thought if he was alive it was for a reason. "What's his name?"

"Don't know," Dale shrugged and got a plate of eggs for her breakfast. "He hasn't said a word since he got here. Won't eat anything either."

Blair accepted the plate from him with a "Thanks" and was about to join the others but another idea came to mind. She grabbed her bag and went over to the kid, taking a seat beside him without a word. Blair poked around at her eggs before saying, "No offense to Dale but these eggs aren't very good. You're smart not to take any."

The kid didn't react to her so Blair attempted something else. She set her plate aside and went into her bag. After a moment or two of rummaging around, she pulled out a candy bar that was taken from the General Store the day before. "Now this is more like it," Blair said eagerly and opened the wrapper, only to plaster a disappointed look on her face. "Peanuts, ew. I can't stand peanuts. Guess I'm stuck with the eggs."

Blair sighed, stood up, and set the candy bar on the rock near the kid before taking her plate and going back to the group.

Rick watched Blair's interaction with the kid and chuckled lightly when she came over because he was actually eating the candy bar. "Well I'll be. How did you manage that?"

"I have never met a kid who's turned down chocolate." Blair took a bite of her eggs and with a mouthful added in, "But damn, I was looking forward to that candy bar."

"It was a worthy sacrifice, Partner." Rick wrapped his arm around Blair's shoulders and led her over to the group. All while she was eating as they walked.

Blair settled in the chair next to Carl and Sophia. "We still on for 'Go Fish' later?" She winked as she said the name of the game because that was code for Texas Hold'em.

Sophia smiled and Carl nodded in anticipation. Their reactions made Lori ask, "Are you three plotting something over there?"

"No," they all answered in almost perfect unison and laughed because of it. Blair saw how the Kid looked over at them when they laughed and she smiled at him in reply.

Unfortunately this happy moment didn't last for very long because Glenn moved to the head of the group with something clearly on his mind.

Glenn rubbed his face nervously. "Um…guys…So…" Now he rubbed his hands together. "The barn is full of Walkers."

That made everyone freeze – the Kid included. Blair set her plate aside and stood up slowly. Without a word, she put her bag over her shoulder, grabbed her Katana, and headed straight towards the barn.

It didn't take long for Daryl, Rick, and everyone else to follow. The Kid included.

When they got to the barn, Shane was the first one to take a look through the slats and confirmed that it was indeed full of Walkers. "You cannot tell me you're alright with this," Shane said fiercely to Rick.

"No, I'm not," Rick answered back firmly. "But we're guests here. This is not our land."

"I don't give a damn," Blair interjected as she tightly gripped her Katana's Saya. "Those things are a threat. A threat that needs to be **put down**."

"I never thought I'd say this, but I agree with Blair," Shane chimed in, which definitely surprised a few people to hear he was siding with her. "We either need to go in there and make things right or we just have to go. Now we've been talking about Fort Benning for a long time.

"Hey! I did not say that we should leave. I said we need to kill the freaking Walkers." Blair hated people speaking for her, especially when they were wrong. "Besides, we can't go." She was definitely thinking about Lori's condition when she said that.

Rick agreed right along with her because he was thinking about Lori, too. "She's right. We can't go."

"Why?" Shane demanded to know. "Why not?!" He faced Blair, scoffing, "You can't seriously think we're going to stick around here just to find a woman none of us have ever met."

"I did **not** say that." Blair was starting to lose her temper now. "So why don't you just shut up because you got no clue what the hell you're talking about!"

"Everyone calm the hell down!" Rick shouted at them to make himself abundantly clear. "Let me talk to Hershel and figure this out."

Blair couldn't believe he said that. "What's there to figure out, Rick? Those Walkers have got to go!"

Rick tried to stay calm with her but it wasn't working out so well. "If we're going to clear this barn I have to talk him into it. This is his land, Blair!"

"Hershel is a nut job for having those things in there in the first place!" Blair slipped her arms through the straps of her Saya because if she held it in her hands she'd have started using it on the Walkers that were pressed against the wall in the barn.

It was Dale's time to interject. "Hershel sees those things in there as people. Sick people – His wife, his stepson."

"You knew?" Rick wanted to know the answer to that.

"Yesterday I talked to Hershel," Dale replied.

"And you waited the night?" Shane was pissed about that.

"I thought we could survive one more night," Dale defended. "And we did. I was waiting till this morning to say something. But Glenn wanted to be the one."

"The man is crazy, Rick," Shane yelled in interjection. "If Hershel thinks those things are alive…"

Shane's sentence was cut off because now the Walkers were pushing against the barn doors trying to get out. The chains on the doors rattled as the Walkers growled with the need to feed.

Blair moved towards the Kid protectively because Carl had his parents and Sophia had Carol. If the Kid was scared, she wanted to make damn sure he knew someone had his back.

* * *

Everyone went back to camp but Shane stayed behind at the barn to check out how secure it was. Blair brought the Kid over to the campfire and had him take a seat. She crouched in front of him and introduced herself. "Forgive my manners, Kid. I'm Blair and that…" she pointed at Daryl and said his name as well, "that's Daryl." Blair did that with everyone else present, not caring if they'd been introduced already or not.

Now that it was done, she got back to what she wanted to know. "So, what's your name?" He still didn't answer her. "Believe it or not, I can imagine what you've been through. It sucks, and it's not fair but you were given this life, Kid, because you're strong enough to live it." Blair didn't think she was getting through to him so she stood up to give him some space.

"Matt," the kid mildly spoke up as she started to walk away. "Not Kid."

Blair stopped, faced him with a smile, and said, "It's nice to meet you, Matt."

It was clear Matt was going back into his shell so she didn't try to encourage him to say anything else and went to grab a bottle of water. Blair didn't get very far in doing this before Rick came over and pulled her aside.

"Give me your sword." Rick wasn't playing around.

"To use or as punishment?" Blair asked with crossed arms.

Rick didn't answer that. "Give me your sword."

"No." Blair turned around, snatched up a bottle of water, and crossed the camp.

"This isn't a suggestion, Blair. You should have given it up when we handed over our guns…" Rick wasn't able to get out another word before she shouted at him.

"Like hell that's the reason! You don't trust me, admit it!" Blair threw up her hand with a scoff. "This is bull, Rick. I'm allowed to have a different opinion so don't you dare try to punish me for it." She got in Rick's face and made herself abundantly clear. "You are **not getting my sword**."

"Then give me your word you won't act without checking with me first." Rick needed at least that much.

Blair scoffed at this request and referred to her previous one. "Thanks for admitting it." Based off her tone, she was clearly offended. Hell, she was borderline pissed.

When she stormed off, he tried to get out, "Blair, that's not what I was saying…" Clearly she wasn't hearing it so he let her be and went off himself to go find Hershel.

* * *

Later that day Blair took a shift watching the barn with a silent Matt sitting in the seat of the tractor she was leaning against. "Are we going to sit in silence all day or have you got something you want to say?" Blair said this out of nowhere. "I mean, I'm good with the silence if that's what you're game for. I was just wondering."

Matt stood up from the seat before saying anything. "They're never gonna be normal again, are they?"

Blair looked back at him. "The Walkers?" At his nod, she said, "No. No there isn't."

"My mom got bit. She saved me." Matt sounded really sad then got just as angry. "I hate the Walkers."

"You and me both, kid. You and me both." Blair suddenly thought of something and looked around. "Where's Buddy?"

Matt had no idea who she was talking about. "Who?"

"The dog," Blair answered. "Huge St Bernard. I'll have to check with Carol." She couldn't believe that it'd taken her this long to realize she hadn't seen Buddy for awhile and definitely wanted to find out what happened.

Her mind was taken off the dog when the sight of Rick, Hershel, and Hershel's ward Jimmy came out of the woods with a couple of walking Walkers. "What the hell?" She stepped away from the tractor, pointing at Matt as she did, "You stay right there. Don't move, Matt, I mean it."

Blair wasn't the only one who wanted to know what the hell was going on because everyone was now running from the house right towards them. "What the hell is this, Rick?!" Blair demanded to know.

"Just back off, Blair, and let us do this," Rick asked of her as he struggled with his Walker.

"Do what, Rick?" Shane yelled in interjection. "These things killed Amy! They killed Otis! They're gonna kill all of us!" He paced back and forth a bit before saying, "Let me ask you something, Hershel. Can a living, breathing person survive this?" he then pulled out his gun and fired three rounds in the Walker Hershel was wrangling. "If someone was alive how could they just take that?" Shane shouted at Hershel. "Why is it still coming?!"

Shane kept shooting the Walker in the chest, making Rick shout, "Shane, that is enough!"

Shane happened to agree with him. "You're right, Rick. It is enough." He strode right over and without a second thought, he fired a round right in the Walker's head.

Blair could see that Shane was losing it when it came to the Walkers and when he went to the barn to burst it wide open, Blair went straight to Matt. "Matt, I need you to go stand with Carol and Sophia so I can protect you. Okay? Go."

Matt listened to her, couldn't explain why but he trusted her, so he left the tractor and ran over to Carol and Sophia.

Blair rushed over to Andrea and took the gun she was holding out for her then stood ready. "Not my favorite weapon, but it will do." As soon as the Walkers started coming out of the barn she fired right along with Shane, Andrea, Daryl, and the others of their camp that were armed and willing.

There were over a dozen Walkers that came out of the barn and every single one of them was put down. At least, that's what they thought. When one final Walker made its way out of the barn, Blair froze. She froze until Shane raised his gun to shoot it. "No!" Blair shouted, pushing his arm down. "No. You do not shoot her!"

Shane looked at Blair like she was insane. "Why the hell not?" It was Sophia who answered when she cried out, "Bonnie!" Now Shane understood.

Blair put her hand over her mouth as she started sobbing. "Bonnie…Bonnie!" She shook her head. "No. NO. NO! This…NO!" Blair screamed this out over and over and that just sent Bonnie straight towards her.

Blair put the gun in her belt and took out her Katana in a swift act of fury. "You selfish bitch!" she yelled at Walker Bonnie. "You didn't have to die! You didn't have to die!" She started sobbing again and repeated, "You didn't have to die."

Walker Bonnie snarled and growled and was about to lunge right for Blair but met her sword instead. Blair screamed in agony as she drove her sword right through Bonnie's skull. "I'm sorry," she cried, "I'm so sorry."

When Blair removed her blade she dropped it to the ground and dropped right along with it. She felt so broken and yet numb and didn't even feel Daryl's arms wrapped around her. All she could see was Bonnie's Zombified body laying on the ground in front of her and all she could feel on repeat was how it felt when she drove her sword into her friend's skull.

Blair felt like she could hardly even breathe. Too much death. Too much loss. How much more could she possibly handle? Blair closed her eyes as tears continued to stream down her cheeks and when she opened them again Matt was within her sights and not Bonnie.

Matt squeezed Blair's shaking hands and used her own words upon her. "You were given this life because you're strong enough to live it."

Blair took a deep breath and held onto Matt's hand with one of her own and gripped onto Daryl's arm with the other. She couldn't let herself fall apart and give into the out the spell had to offer – Not when here, in this reality, she wasn't done living yet.

* * *

End Season 2 Episode 7


	14. You hear me

Blair felt like she could hardly even breathe. Too much death. Too much loss. How much more could she possibly handle? Blair closed her eyes as tears continued to stream down her cheeks and when she opened them again Matt was within her sights and not Bonnie.

Matt squeezed Blair's shaking hands and used her own words upon her. "You were given this life because you're strong enough to live it."

Blair took a deep breath and held onto Matt's hand with one of her own and gripped onto Daryl's arm with the other. She couldn't let herself fall apart and give into the out the spell had to offer – Not when here, in this reality, she wasn't done living yet.

Even so, Blair needed to get away from them – from everyone. She got out of Daryl's embrace and started up the road back to camp. When Blair felt a hand on her arm, she pulled it away and whipped around to face who it was.

Rick stood there not sure what to say. He was so angry with her before because she sided with Shane in regards to the barn but that was different now. Rick felt so bad for Blair and wanted to be there for her. And yet, he didn't know what to say so he didn't say anything at all. Rick stepped forward and hugged her. When Blair tried to pull back he hugged her tighter, saying, "You're stuck with me, Partner. You hear me? I'm not going anywhere."

Blair broke down and hugged Rick back, crying as she did so, "I'm holding you to that." She pulled back without resistance from Rick this time and continued on her way to the RV.

It wasn't long before she felt a small hand slide into hers. Blair stopped and looked down at Sophia with a sad smile on her face as tears streamed down Sophia's own.

Carol rubbed Blair's back in a comforting manner and they all walked to the RV together.

* * *

Blair sat in Dale's RV across from Sophia and Carol at the table. Sophia still hadn't stopped crying and Blair was being haunted by the current events. All she kept seeing was Bonnie's face over and over in her mind. There were flashes of her when Blair first found her in this reality and then when Bonnie came out of the barn. Losing Bonnie made Blair feel like a piece of her was missing. Bonnie was one of the most important people to her in her reality. When Elena died, Bonnie was right there to try and keep her together – she was such a glue in her life and Blair could have used that here. She could have used _her_ here.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Blair asked Carol, "Where's Buddy? That was Bonnie's dog. Where is he?"

Carol turned her attention away from comforting Sophia to answer her. "Hershel asked to keep him at the house so he wouldn't bother the other animals."

"Screw the other animals," Blair snapped. "Buddy belongs with us."

"I'm sorry," Sophia cried. "It's my fault."

Blair didn't understand what she was talking about. "What's your fault?"

"Bonnie is dead because of me," Sophia sobbed, turning to look at Blair. "If she didn't have to protect me she'd be alive. I'm sorry, Blair."

Blair reached across the table and held onto Sophia's hand. "Bonnie's death is _not_ your fault, Sophia. She has _always_ put the people she cared about before herself. That's the kind of person she was. This is not your fault. You hear me? This is _not your fault_."

Blair gave Sophia's hand a bit of a squeeze before leaving the RV. She wasn't sure where she was going to go but needed to get out of there. Sophia's reaction was breaking her heart and as much as she wanted to be there to comfort her, she couldn't handle it. Blair herself was broken and needed some time.

She took a deep, shaky breath as she walked away from the RV and stopped when she saw Daryl and Matt down in the field with none other than Buddy. Blair cried at the sight because it was so…normal. In this world filled with pain and loss they were still able to have a normal moment of playing fetch with a dog. Maybe there was hope in this world after all? But how…how long would that hope be able to last?

* * *

Blair was cleaning her Katana when Daryl and Matt came over to her with Buddy in tow. "They're ready," Daryl said to her as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

Blair kept on cleaning her blade and didn't look at him. "Ready for what?"

"To bury your friend." Daryl was still worried that Blair was going to break down like she did when her father died. He didn't want that to happen to her again.

"There's nothing to bury. Bonnie's home now and when I die I will see her again. We won't be burying Bonnie. We'll just be burying her shell." Blair shoved the cloth into her bag and returned the Katana to its Saya. "I refuse to stand by and watch them bury her shell."

Blair slipped her arms through the straps of the Saya and took off in the opposite direction of where the burial was being held.

Daryl whistled at the dog and waved his hand towards Blair for it to go with her. He was slightly impressed when Buddy took the hint and went after Blair.

Matt looked up at Daryl as he asked, "Are we all kindred spirits?"

Daryl turned from Blair to Matt. "What you talking about?"

Matt's answer to that was simple. "We've all lost family, haven't we?"

"Yeah, Kid. We have." He mussed up Matt's hair before guiding him over to Carol and Sophia before joining the others for the burial.

After a little bit, Blair stopped walking and dropped to her knees. She tried so hard not to cry and scream but that's exactly what she did. When Buddy rubbed his huge head against hers, she wrapped her arms around him and cried. Losing Bonnie felt different than losing her father – her reactions were different. Why? Because Blair knew that one day her life in this reality would end and she would see Bonnie back in her own, but her father…she would likely never see him again.

* * *

After the burial, Daryl took Matt to collect some strong enough branches to make arrows out of. After a quick lesson with a knife, they started whittling away. "Why didn't you say you knew what you were doing?" Daryl asked Matt this because it was clear this wasn't the first time Matt had whittled something.

Matt shrugged as he shaved off the bark. "Seemed like you wanted to teach me, so I listened."

Daryl took his stick and tapped it on Matt's head. "Never dumb down for other people. You got the smarts? Use them." When Matt nodded, Daryl looked at him as he mentally debated something. Finally, he came right out with it. "How did you manage on your own?"

"My mom. She stocked up in case of disasters – Kept a box of stuff in every room of the house." Matt's whittling movement got a bit more aggressive. "She tried to get me and my sister but…" he stopped his story there. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Your choice." Daryl wasn't going to make him talk if he didn't want to, but there was something else he was curious about. "What's your last name, Kid?"

"Donovan," he answered, staying focused on the work in his hands. "My last name is Donovan."

* * *

Blair left Buddy in the care of Carol of Sophia and went down to barn. She went inside and looked around. What she hoped to find there, she wasn't sure, but that's where she found herself. At the sound of footsteps behind her, she pulled the gun from her belt and aimed it.

Shane held up his hands to show he meant no harm. "Just checking in."

Blair returned the gun to her belt and crossed her arms. "What do you care?"

Shane scoffed a chuckle. "Honestly, I don't know." He sighed and rubbed his face because he didn't go in there to start a fight with her. "Are you alright?"

Blair plastered a fake smile on her face, "Peachy keen." Her face returned to reveal what she was really feeling but did have something to say to him. "Thank you."

Shane wasn't sure what she was thanking him for. "For what?"

"For breaking open the barn. For protecting the group." Blair swallowed a lump in her throat, not wanting to start crying again. "For not shooting Bonnie. For letting me handle it." She cleared her throat and added in with her signature sass, "Make sure not to let it go to your head. I still don't like you. I just happened to agree with you this time."

Shane scoffed another chuckle. "Well, good. If you started to like me the four horsemen would show up."

Blair waved a hand around her, saying, "I think Pestilence and Death have already shown up."

Shane had to give her that one – His expression showed he was thinking that. With nothing else on his mind, he walked out of the barn, saying, "Stay safe, Blair."

"I'm not going to opt out if that's what you're thinking!" Blair called after him then took a deep breath. She said fiercely to herself, "The spell isn't going to get rid of me that easily."

* * *

After leaving the barn, Blair spotted Lori up at the house getting into a car solo. She had a bad feeling about this so she changed her original direction of Dale's RV and went over to Lori instead.

"Where are you going?" Blair asked while she put her hand on the driver's door to keep Lori from opening it.

"Don't worry about it, Blair," Lori replied, sounding more concerned than anything else. "I'm just going into town."

"Not alone you're not," Blair countered, keeping her hand right where it is. "What's going on, Lori?"

Lori sighed and just by seeing the look on Blair's face, she knew Blair wasn't going to let this go. "Rick and Glenn went into town to find Hershel. I'm going into town to get them."

Blair wasn't too keen on doing anything that involved Hershel, but Rick and Glenn were Pack so that made her shove those feelings aside. "I'm coming with you."

Lori didn't think that was such a good idea. "You're still grieving, sweetie."

"I can suck it up for a trip to town," Blair countered before going around to the passenger side. "I'm coming."

Lori didn't put up a fight about it and got into the car. She looked at the map in hand only to have it taken from her by Blair. Lori was about to snap at her for that then remembered. "Right, you've been to town already."

"Exactly," Blair replied as she dropped the map on the seat between them. "You drive, I'll navigate."

"Fair enough." Lori started up the car and drove off towards town, following Blair's directions as she went.

* * *

"Are you sure you know where we're going?" Lori asked as they drove. "Shouldn't we have made it to town by now? Maybe I should look at the map."

"Just because I rode to town on a horse, doesn't mean I don't know how to get there by car," Blair retorted. She pulled the map from Lori's hand. "You don't need this."

"I would rather see it for myself." Lori felt slightly bad for saying that because it sounded like she didn't trust Blair. "No offense."

"Some taken." Blair moved the map further out of her reach. "Like I said, we don't need this. Keep your eyes on the road."

"Give me the map, Blair." Lori reached out to get it from Blair's hand and gasped when Blair screamed out, "Walker!"

Lori's eyes went back to the road and tried to brake to keep them from hitting it but that didn't work out so well. They impacted with the Walker, causing Lori to swerve the car to the side of the road. The car hit the ditch just right to send it flipping through the air.

The car landed upside down with glass sprayed all over the road and inside, Lori and Blair were both rendered unconscious. Another Walker heard the crash and was drawn to the accident. It growled and snarled as it tried to break through the broken glass to get at the unconscious women inside…

* * *

End Season 2 Episode 8

* * *

 **A/N: Hey, Readers! Was I really that obvious with who Matt was or are you guys just that smart? I'm going with smart! :D Also thanks to Thisismexxo for your help!**


	15. Pack

Blair had no idea how long she was out for, but it was night now and when she came to she had one hell of a splitting headache. It took her a moment or two to adjust herself to their present circumstances – Present circumstances being that she was uncomfortably smushed against the ceiling of the car.

The first thing Blair focused on was Lori, who was on the ceiling beside her. "Lori…" Blair said weakly, touching her arm. "Lori." She managed to get that out louder this time and then yelped at the sound of a snarling Walker that was trying to get to them through the broken windshield. "Lori, wake the hell up! You are not dead!"

Lori groaned and gasped loudly at the sight of the Walker that was pushing through the hole in the glass. She was definitely freaking out.

Blair felt around for the knife at her belt and when she found it, drove it right into the Walker's head. Once she was certain it was dead, she leaned back and breathed heavily. "I told you I had your back."

"Are you okay?" Lori asked, since she herself was pretty sore and had a slight head laceration.

"I'm probably going to end up in a coma at some point with all these cracks to the head, but right now I'm conscious." Blair moved closer to the door to get it open and after a few pushes, it finally did. "Can you move?"

Lori nodded. "Yeah, I'm good. Let's go."

Blair let Lori get out of the car first because she needed to find her gun and Katana. She found them both, along with Lori's revolver, and after climbing out of the car, she spotted a Walker going straight for Lori. Blair was really getting sick of this shit and with her knife in hand, she stabbed it in the head over and over again until it was nothing more than mush.

Lori didn't even realize a Walker was that close to her until Blair put it down. "I'm going to have to start keeping count of how many times I owe you."

"You don't owe me anything," Blair countered a bit breathlessly. "You're Pack. That's all that matters." She returned the knife to her belt and handed Lori the revolver. "Looks like we're walking. Question is, where to now? Are we going to town or back to the farm? Because we're literally halfway between the two."

When Lori didn't answer, she added in, "It's your call, Lori. I hijacked a spot on this outing but you're the lead. So…where to?"

* * *

Back at the farm, Shane and the others finally realized that they hadn't seen Lori or Blair since that afternoon. Carol and Sophia went down to the field where Daryl and Matt set up a campfire with Buddy. "Have either of you seen Blair?" Carol asked them worriedly.

"Not since this afternoon," Daryl answered as he poked at the fire. "It's different this time – she needed some space. Probably crashing in the RV."

"She's not there." Sophia sounded scared. "We've looked everywhere for her and Lori. They're gone."

Daryl stood up when he heard that. "What do you mean they're gone?"

Carol was just as worried as her daughter. "We think Blair went with Lori to look for Rick and the others. None of them are back yet."

Daryl looked back to Matt before asking Carol, "You'll watch him?"

"Of course." That was the least Carol could do.

Matt didn't want to stay there and ran to catch up with Daryl. "I want to come with you."

Daryl stopped and faced him. "Stay here, Kid. This ain't a discussion." He waved his hand towards Carol and Sophia. "Stay with them." With his point made, he went back towards camp to see what the others were planning on doing to find Blair.

"Anything?" he demanded to know of the group when he got there.

"They must have gone into town," Andrea replied, since they checked everywhere else. "There's no other explanation."

Shane went straight to Dale in anger. "Did you know about this? Did they take guns?"

"I don't know, but you know Blair always keeps her sword with her." Dale was clearly offended by being asked if he knew they'd gone off like that. "I wouldn't have let them just leave. If I knew, I'd have said something."

Shane was clearly pissed off and looked over at Daryl before going to an available car. "You coming?"

Daryl didn't even need to be asked because he was heading towards the vehicle before Shane had even said a word. A part of him was kicking himself for not keeping a closer eye on Blair. Instead he was bonding with the Kid, and while he had no issues with that, he felt he should have done more for Blair. But like he said before, her mourning was different this time and he wasn't quite sure how to help her.

* * *

They didn't have to drive for very long before they came across the car accident. Shane and Daryl got out with guns ready and checked out the dead Walkers to make sure they were dead before seeing if anyone was in the car. There was no sign of Blair or Lori being there. If Daryl was to be honest, he didn't care either way if they found Lori, but Blair was an entirely different story.

"Why the hell didn't they start back to the farm?" Shane asked in fury as they went back to the car.

"Pack," Daryl answered, thinking about what Blair would say.

Shane still didn't get the whole Pack thing. "What?"

"They're Pack," Daryl repeated. "Now shut up and get moving or I'm driving."

Shane didn't appreciate the attitude. With a sharp look towards Daryl he sped off down the road in hopes of finding them.

* * *

Blair and Lori walked in silence for awhile before Lori said something to her. "I'm sorry about Bonnie. She meant a lot to you, didn't she?"

"Does no one understand what Pack means?" Blair stopped and pressed her hands together before taking a deep breath. "Let me try to explain this again. There's friends and there's family, but Pack – Pack is above all of that." Blair could tell Lori was still having a hard time grasping the concept so she tried a different approach. "For your friends, your family – Would you kill for them? Die for them?"

"Of course," Lori answered without hesitation.

Blair agreed with her there. "So would I. But for Pack I would also _live_ for them."

Their conversation was cut there due to the car that was coming straight towards them. "Busted," Lori muttered as she took Blair's hand and started walking again, pulling Blair along with her.

Shane stopped the car then both he and Daryl went straight towards them. "You two alright?" Shane needed to know.

"We're fine," Lori answered and only stopped when Shane got in their way.

"You're not fine. We saw the wreck." Shane shined his light on them to make sure their eyes were responsive and all that jazz.

Daryl pulled Blair aside, asking while Shane talked to Lori and asked, "What the hell happened?"

"Hit a Walker and you saw the rest." Blair crossed her arms and looked down, saying, "You didn't have to come look for me."

Daryl lifted her chin so she'd look at him, scoffing with a bit of a grin. "You're Pack." He had a feeling he didn't need to say anything else and he was right.

Blair's eyes filled with tears for a number of reasons but the most prominent was because he understood.

"Come on." Daryl wrapped his arm around Blair and guided her over to the car.

"No," Blair instantly answered. "We gotta find Rick and Glenn."

Before Daryl could say anything, Shane cut in there. "They're back – all of them. Everyone's safe and back at the farm."

"Really?" Lori needed to be sure. When Shane confirmed it, she sighed in relief. "Thank god."

Blair smiled and went over to Lori. After giving her hand an 'it's all good' squeeze, she got into the backseat with Daryl. Once he sat beside her, she leaned his head on his shoulder. "Where's Matt?"

"Carol's watching him." Daryl knew Blair was going to be pissed as hell about the lie where Rick and the others were concerned. Then again, maybe they would be back by the time they got there.

Blair was glad to hear Matt was being taken care of. "Good. I don't want anything to happen to him either." She winced a bit because he head was still killing her. "Hey, Daryl…you got anything for a headache?"

"You keep getting smacked in the head you're gonna end up in a coma," Daryl answered as he handed over the last pain killer he had on him.

Blair laughed before popping it into her mouth. "That's what I said."

* * *

As soon as the car pulled up to camp, everyone came over to see how they were. Matt ran straight to Blair and hugged her tight after Sophia had her turn, because he was so glad she was alive.

Blair thought it was so sweet and hugged him back before mussing up his hair. She stood behind Matt and put her hands on his shoulders while he fixed his hair and asked, "Where's Glenn and Rick? I got a bone to pick with them." She meant that as a joke but saw the look on everyone's faces.

Lori saw them too. "Where are they? Where's Rick?" When no one answered, she asked a different question. "They're not back?" She got shaking heads in reply.

Blair couldn't believe this and moved away from Matt to go over to Daryl who stepped away from the group a little bit. "They're not back?" She forcefully turned him around to face her. "You knew they weren't back?!" she yelled.

Daryl didn't hold back with his answer. "You would have been stupid enough to go after them."

Blair shoved him for that. "You son of a bitch!" She shoved him again. "They're Pack, dammit! I thought you understood that!" Blair felt like she'd been punched in the gut. "You son of a bitch," she seethed at him before backing up. "We're done. Whatever the hell this was – it's over!"

Daryl scoffed at her reaction because he thought she was overreacting. "You don't mean that."

"I sure as hell do!" she screamed at him. "I thought you were different but you're the same son of a bitch whose ass I kicked. Nothing more."

As Blair stormed off, he shouted at her, "You don't know me!"

"Clearly!" she screamed back before taking a deep breath and repeating more calmly, "Clearly."

The entire camp heard this argument between them. It even overshadowed the one Lori had with Shane, and no one was really sure how to react to it because anyone who'd seen Blair and Daryl together never thought anything would tear them apart.

* * *

Blair sat on the porch railing with her head resting back against the post. Everything that transpired between her and Daryl went through her mind. "Dammit," she said to herself with closed eyes and shot them open when she heard footsteps.

Carol was the source of the sound and she sat down on the railing next to Blair. "I talked to Daryl…he's upset."

"Not the only one," Blair replied as she looked up to the stars.

"I know it's not my place to say this but I'm going to and please don't say anything until I'm done." Carol reached out and took Blair's hand. "You're scared. You've lost your father, your friend, you don't know what's happened to Glenn and Rick, and so you're pushing Daryl away because you're scared of losing him too. I can see you love him, Blair. And he loves you, too. We can all see it. Daryl may not know how to say the words, but he feels it. Don't push him away because you're scared."

Blair heard everything Carol said but only focused on one thing because she didn't realize it before. "He already said it." She wiped her face with her free hand and sniffled. "When he called me Pack."

"Then go talk to him," Carol said encouragingly. I'll keep an eye on Matt." She could see the reluctance on Blair's face and said again, "Go talk to him."

Blair really didn't want to admit when she was wrong but she had to give Carol the credit. "Okay…okay." She slid off the railing and landed on the ground. Before going to find Daryl she looked back at Carol who waved her along. "Okay, okay, I'm going." Blair held up her hands in defeat and went on her way.

Blair found Daryl and his tent down in the field where he built the campfire with Matt. Only now Matt wasn't with him and Daryl sat around it alone. Seeing him sitting there in the firelight, Blair had no idea what to say to him. Apologizing didn't feel like enough but that's where she started. "I'm sorry." It sounded even lamer than she thought it would. She stepped closer to him. "I'm so sorry, Daryl. I have no excuse. I…"

Daryl cut her off. "I knew what I signed up for, Han. Your short temper, your baggage – all of it." He got up from the rock he was sitting on and walked over to her. "How many times have I told you I would do whatever the hell it took to keep you alive? If that makes me a son of a bitch so be it." Daryl held up a finger as he emotionally added in, "You're the one who asked for one delusion. I couldn't give you that with Bonnie. So go ahead and hate me for trying to give it to you now."

Blair was at a loss for words. She couldn't think of one thing to say no matter how hard she tried and hated herself for it. "I'm sorry…" she whispered before turning around to leave.

Daryl scoffed and called out to her, "I thought you were a fighter!" He was definitely baiting her now to get her to say something other than 'I'm sorry'.

Blair stopped walking when he said that and slowly turned back to him. "I don't know how to fight this battle."

"There's something you don't know how to do? Never thought that'd happen." Daryl went straight over to Blair saying, "I'll show you how to fight," right before he pulled her close and kissed her deeply. When Blair returned the kiss, he guided her over to the tent before entering it with her.

Being together in that way wasn't what either of them expected to happen that night and yet it was something they both desired.

* * *

That morning when Blair and Daryl went up to camp to join the others for the search party in town, Carol smiled at them because she could imagine what they got up to.

Matt was playing cards with Carl and Sophia but left the game when he saw them coming. He ran over to them both and asked, "Do you like each other again?"

Daryl smirked in Blair's direction, "Something like that."

Matt was definitely glad to hear it even though he didn't say a word.

Blair was about to say something sassy but stopped when she saw a car coming down the road. "It's them," she gasped and ran to meet them.

When Rick got out of the car, she threw her arms around him for a hug then punched him in the arm. "Don't scare me like that again. I'm blaming my mini-breakdown last night on you."

"Of course you are," Rick chuckled and gave her another quick hug before going over to Carl and Lori.

Blair looked over to Glenn and saw there was something on his mind. She didn't say anything to him though and just hugged him. If he wanted to talk about it then he would – she wasn't going to push him.

Since Maggie was coming over, Blair stepped aside and caught sight of a blindfolded guy in the car. "Uh…Who's this?"

"That's Randall," Hershel answered as he went up towards the house.

Blair's brow raised at that as she looked at the unconscious guy. "Okay…Nice to meet you Randall." She reached through the window and patted his shoulder with no response before rejoining the others.

Even when she said it, she had a gut feeling that she wasn't going to mean it and she was right because it was explained that he was part of a group of men in town – some of which Rick killed. Rick thought it was best to patch Randall up and then send him on his way but Shane disagreed because he believed Randall would find his group, bring them back to the farm, and start a war.

Once again, Blair found herself agreeing with Shane. Only, this time, she kept that to herself. Opening up her mouth has done nothing but cause trouble lately so she ignored her gut and didn't say a word—All the while hoping it wasn't going to be something she'd end up regretting.

* * *

End Season 2 Episode 9


	16. Oh my

It'd been a week since the town run with Randall being brought back. Randall was all healed up now, so Shane and Rick bound him, blindfolded him, threw him into the trunk of a car and drove out to drop him someplace far enough so he couldn't find the farm again.

During this week Blair got to thinking – their ammo wasn't going to last forever so she tapped into what she learned in her life as Ailia and got to work. With the help of Daryl, Carol, Sophia, Carl, and Matt, she collected the appropriate wood, string, and feathers to make bows and arrows.

Presently Blair was giving the kids archery lessons while Daryl worked on the other bows for the adults. "Keep your elbow down just a _little_ bit," she said to Carl and adjusted his arm so. "Much better."

"Why can't we just use the guns?" Sophia asked as she struggled with notching another arrow on her bow.

"Bullets don't last forever," Blair explained. "But as long as there are trees and string-like objects there's the chance to make bows and arrows. Besides, it's much quieter and won't attract the Walkers."

"I want to learn how to use your sword," Matt grinned in hopes of getting a chance to use the thing.

Blair handed him another arrow to shoot at the target bag. "Nice try. _But_ Daryl has so willingly offered to teach you three how to handle knives."

Daryl heard her say that and scoffed, "Like hell I did."

Blair leaned down a bit to make it seem like she was whispering something to them but said it loud enough for Daryl to hear. "He'll come around."

Daryl didn't even look up from his work as he said, "Like hell I will."

Blair laughed at that then clapped her hands together. "Bows down, guys. Go collect the arrows."

While they were doing that, Blair took off her Katana and sat down beside Daryl with an audible exhale before laying back. "Something's coming, Daryl. I can feel it in my gut."

Daryl paused because of how serious she sounded, but tried to make light of it. "Probably that chicken you ate last night."

Blair propped herself up on her arms and looked at him with narrowed eyes. " _I_ cooked that chicken last night."

Daryl went back to tying the string on the bow as he answered with, "Exactly."

Blair swatted his leg for that. "Asshole." After a bit of a laugh between them, she said, "Seriously though, something's coming."

Daryl realized something then. "That what all this is about? You're not conserving ammo – You're getting them ready for a war." When Blair got up and went to help collect the arrows without a word, he knew he was right. The only question was what kind of war? – One with the living…or with the dead?

* * *

Blair gave the kids a well-deserved break by giving them a chance to play with Buddy within sight. She collected up that training round's arrows with Carol's help and laughed when Buddy kept going after Carl to lick his face until Carl finally fell to the ground with Buddy not stopping. Carl and the other kids were laughing like crazy because of it.

Carol laughed at this event as well and sighed happily. "I never thought I'd hear laughter like that again."

"Me neither," Blair admitted. "It's like music to my ears."

Carol handed the arrows she collected to Blair. "You're really great with the kids."

"It'd be pretty hard not to get along with those three," Blair answered with a smile. "They're the great ones."

"That they are." Carol stepped closer, smiling a bit as she asked, "So…how are things with you and Daryl? I noticed neither of you have brought the tent back to camp yet."

Blair laughed because Carol looked like someone who was looking for a bit of gossip. "I have been waiting a week for you to ask me about that."

"Well?" Carol started giggling a little bit. "How is it?"

Blair opened her mouth to say something but started fumbling over the words, so she just covered her face in an attempt to hide it.

Carol gasped in laughter. "Are you blushing? Oh, my, is it that good?"

Blair slid her hand down her face before holding onto her arm with it. Her lips were pressed together as she nodded before saying, "Better. It's better."

Now Carol was the one blushing. "Oh my."

"What are you ladies talking about?" Daryl asked as he joined them with a newly finished bow.

Blair answered that by pulling the penny from her pocket and waved it in front of him while laughing, "You'll never know."

* * *

Once archery practice was over, Blair helped Carol with the laundry. "I hated it when we had washing machines and I hate it even more now," Blair commented as she hung the clothes on the line.

Carol had a different opinion about it. "I don't really mind doing laundry. Gives me time to think."

"Sometimes I get tired of thinking." Blair rubbed her forehead, sighing a bit. "There are things I'd rather not remember that keep poking their way into my thoughts."

"You'll just have to keep making good memories to overshadow the bad." Carol made it sound so easy.

Blair appreciated the advice but knew it didn't really work like that. "Easier said than done."

Carol smiled supportively. "Practice makes perfect."

Blair didn't say anything more about this because she spotted Glenn sitting up on the RV looking as sullen as he did a week ago. She pinned another shirt to the line before asking Carol a favor. "Can I have a few? I need to talk to Glenn about something."

Carol didn't have a problem with that. "Of course, sweetie. There's not much left to do anyway."

Blair smiled gratefully at her. "Thanks." She picked up her bag and went over to the RV. "Permission to come aboard?" she called up to him.

Glenn waved his hand in reply. "Come on up."

Blair climbed up the ladder and sat in the chair beside him on the RV's roof. "I've given you a week, Glenny. It's time to talk." She crossed her legs and sat up straight and proper. With an elegant wave to her arm, she said, "Proceed."

Glenn couldn't look at her because he knew he'd laugh if he did. "There's nothing to talk about."

Blair slumped down into the seat with a serious sigh. "Dude, don't lie to me. I'll punch you if you do and, believe it or not, I'm trying to _not_ do that."

Glenn looked at her now and gave in. "I froze. Okay? We were getting shot at, Rick and Hershel needed me, and I froze. Maggie telling me she loved me got into my head and I froze."

Blair leaned forward a bit. "Tell me you did not just blame Maggie for being scared." She stood up and laughed. "I mean, I'm pretty sure you didn't just say that to me, right?"

"She got into my head!" Glenn defended as he stood up. "I've never frozen before!"

"You were scared!" Blair shouted back then repeated in a more gentle tone, "You were scared." She put her hands on his shoulders to make sure he'd pay attention to her. "You love Maggie – you would kill for her, die for her, and _live_ for her. Don't blame her for that because you realized you were just as scared of leaving her alone in this world as you are of losing her. Don't punish her for that, Glenn. Admit it, take responsibility, and move on."

Blair clapped her hands on the sides of his face and kissed his forehead. "You'll thank me later." As she started back down the ladder, she added in, "In fact, you'll be so thankful that you'll make me your best lady at your wedding."

Glenn was still processing everything she said, but he couldn't let her get away without saying something. "Are you always so sure of what's gonna happen?"

Blair walked away backwards as she pointed to herself. "Trusting the gut, baby. Trusting the gut."

* * *

"Now that's how you do it!" Blair cheered when Carol almost got a direct bullseye. "I'm starting to think you were a warrior maiden in a past life or something."

"Blair," Carol laughed because she thought that was so silly of her to say.

"Hey, it's possible." Blair handed her another arrow then went over to Matt who was struggling a little with it.

"Your aim is a bit off." Blair picked up the extra bow and notched an arrow. She took aim at the bag that was swinging back and forth. "Don't aim for where it is now, aim for where it will be." Blair took a breath, aimed, and fired. The arrow shot right into the bullseye painted on the bag. "Your turn."

"You make it look so easy." Matt sounded a bit discouraged because he wasn't getting it.

"You were doing great with the stationary targets, Matt. Moving targets are different. Don't think too much, just breathe, aim, and fire." Blair handed him another arrow. "Your turn."

Matt sighed as he took the arrow, notched it, and took her advice. When the arrow hit the bag it wasn't a bullseye by far but it was definitely a hit.

"Now _that's_ how you do it." Blair laughed and mussed up his hair before going to check on the others.

"I hate it when people do that," Matt complained as he tried to fix his hair.

Daryl scoffed a chuckle at that before mussing Matt's hair again, saying, "Get used to it, Kid."

"The name's Matt Donovan!" Matt called out to him. "Can we please stop with calling me Kid?"

Blair whipped around when she heard Matt say his last name was Donovan. There was no way he could be the same Matt Donovan from her reality…right? Blair then looked at Matt, _really_ looked at him and imagined him with lighter, shorter, more spikey hair and not as tall in height then it hit her – this was this reality's version of _her_ Matt Donovan. How could she not have seen it before?

Daryl could tell Blair's mind was going elsewhere so he touched her arm, asking, "Where'd you go?"

"Just thinking about a friend," Blair answered before clearing her throat. "Who's ready for a little something different?" She asked Carol and the kids. "Not only the targets moving, but so are we. Same tactics, you're just moving while you do it."

"Easier said than done," Carol answered, using Blair's previous words against her.

Blair was prepared for that and did the same thing to Carol as she did to her. With a grin, she retorted with, "Practice makes perfect."

* * *

End Season 2 Episode 10

* * *

 **A/N: Hey, Readers! Sorry for the short length of this Episode, but hoped you enjoyed it nonetheless. Thanks for reading!**


	17. Mercy

"You never should have brought him back here." Those seethed words were the first thing that came out of Blair's mouth during the discussion of what the plan was where Randall was concerned. "You should have incapacitated him and used him as Walker bait to get away, **not** bring him back here and make him a risk for everyone. Again!"

Lori cut in there before Blair got even more heated than she already was. "What is the plan, Rick? I think we'd all feel a lot better knowing if there was one."

"We'll know soon enough," Rick answered because Daryl was coming towards them now.

"Boy there's got a gang, thirty men," Daryl informed the group. "They have heavy artillery and ain't looking to make friends. They roll through here, our boys are dead. And our women, they're gonna – they're gonna wish they were."

Blair gripped the bandana in her hand and twisted it tight when she heard that. It brought back something for her that she'd much rather forget. To pull her mind from these dark memories, she focused on Daryl and noticed the blood on his hand when he told Carol all they did was have a little chat. "Did you hurt him during this chat?" Blair needed confirmation. When Daryl nodded in reply, she answered with, "Good." Blair then pointed at Rick and said, "You should have left him to die," before she walked away.

Blair got as far away from the group as she could before needing to lean against a tree to try and catch her breath. The memories of something that happened in this reality kept flashing in her mind. She pressed her hands on the sides of her head as if she was trying to physically get them out then jumped into a fighting stance when she felt someone touch her arm.

Daryl stood there with his hands raised, showing her he meant no harm. He had a pretty good idea where her head was at the moment and gave her some reassurance. Blair told him about what happened to her in the past and figured hearing what he just said wasn't going to sit with her well.

Blair finally released the breath she didn't even realize she was holding and lowered her fighting stance. "I'm fine."

"I know." Daryl knew otherwise but he wasn't about to point that out to her.

Blair cleared her throat and crossed her arms. "I mean it, Daryl. I'm fine." Her voice was convincing but it was her eyes that gave her away.

Daryl stepped closer to her and repeated. "I know." He then kissed her forehead before vowing, "No one's ever gonna hurt you like that again. Not while I'm around."

Blair rested her forehead against his, closed her eyes, and whispered, "I know."

* * *

Blair sat on a boulder on the perimeter of the camp, sharpening her knife, when Dale came up to her. "Can I help you with something?" she asked without looking at him.

Dale knew talking to Blair could be a bit of a challenge so he felt a direct approach would be the best bet. "I'm talking to the group to hear their thoughts about Randall. I don't think Shane's right, I don't think he should be killed."

Blair paused in her actions and slowly lifted her gaze to look at him. She popped her lips and slipped the knife back into its sheath at her belt before standing. "I get it, Dale, you think you're the angel on one shoulder and Shane is the devil on the other, but guess what – I happen to agree with him. Randall is a threat to all of us. If this is put to a vote then I vote for him to die."

"You would let someone die so easily?" Dale had a hard time believing that. "No thought whatsoever?"

"If it meant protecting our people then I would in a heartbeat. You heard what Daryl said – Randall's crew will kill the men and make the women wish they were dead. That's an _instant_ death sentence in my book. All those monsters deserve to be put down!" Blair was definitely getting emotional about this.

Dale opened his mouth to say something but caught a look in her eyes and changed his words. "This isn't just protecting the group, is it? This is personal for you, isn't it?"

Blair stepped closer to him saying firmly, "Randall is a threat. If Rick or anyone else won't put him down then **I will**."

Dale looked at her incredulously. "What makes you think you have the right to be this young man's judge, jury, and executioner?" He looked away with a scoff. "Here I thought you were Rick's Partner but lately you've been acting more like Shane's."

"I _am_ Rick's Partner, but that doesn't mean I think just like him and it sure as hell doesn't mean I have to," Blair shot back. "I have my own mind, Dale. If someone other than Shane said Randall should have been killed already I still would have agreed with them. I'm starting to think the one making this all personal here is you. All this is sounding more like turning people against Shane than deciding not to kill the threat."

Dale wasn't sure what to say to her at this point. "There's nothing I can say to make you see reason, is there?"

"That's the funny thing about reason," Blair answered with a bit of a chuckle, "what may be reasonable for one person might not be for another."

Once again, Dale looked at her with such an incredulous expression. "You're really the devil's advocate on this."

"If I have to be then yes! I've lost too many people, Dale!" Blair shouted back before taking a deep breath to try and calm herself. "I feel it in my gut that something is coming, so I'm going to make damn sure that I do everything in my power to keep it from happening."

Dale all but laughed at her. "You're not prophetic, Blair. There is no way…"

Blair cut him off there before he could say anything further. "I felt it in my gut that Rick would find his family and he did. I felt it in my gut that we'd find Sophia and we did. Now I feel it in my gut that _something_ is coming, and mark my words something will come."

Clearly Dale had nothing left to say because he walked away from her without another word. That didn't stop Blair from calling out to him as he went, "You should start listening to my gut, Dale! It'd make things a whole lot easier if you did."

* * *

Blair did not like the idea of waiting the day to find out what was going to happen to Randall so she decided to take matters into her own hands. She went down to the barn and scoffed a chuckle at the sight of Andrea keeping watch near the door that led straight to the room Randall was being held in. The scoff was because she could easily guess Dale was behind it and the chuckle was because they were so stupid to not block all the other ways into the barn.

One of the other ways was exactly what Blair used. She climbed up the outside ladder into the loft then down the smaller ladder leading right down into Randall's room.

Randall stood up and looked at her hopefully. "You here to let me out?" he asked as he gestured to his shackled wrists. At the expression she answered him with, he knew he was in trouble. If looks could kill he'd have been dead.

Blair didn't answer his question and just started crossing the room towards him. "You know that man who came in before? I love that man. He's a _good_ man, and he's good at having chats with people." She touched her mouth and laughed before crossing her arms. "Did you know that's what he called whatever he did to you a chat? He's good at that, isn't he?" Blair stepped even closer to him with a wicked gleam in her eye. "Well, guess what Randall, I'm good at making people _**talk**_."

She started rummaging through her bag, talking in a nonchalant manner. "If I'm to be honest, Olivia was the one who was good at making people talk, but I know everything she does." Blair found the small roll of duct tape and tore off a strip. "Now, I'm going to ask you some questions but first…I'm going to take a little before you give a little."

Randall was really starting to freak out now. "Stay back! Help!" Before he could get another word out, Blair pressed the tape right over his mouth.

"Shut up or I will kill you before the verdict." Blair held her knife to his throat to make her point. "Your crew is going to kill our men and make the women wish they were dead, huh?"

Randall knew what she was referring to and his eyes shot open while trying to tell her he wasn't like that, but all that came out were muffled sounds.

"Try to deny it all you want." Blair moved her knife, grabbed his shirt, and pulled him down to her level. "But that's not going to stop me from making you wish you were dead."

Randall's muffled sounds started to get more high pitched and fear-filled. He had no idea what this insane woman was capable of but she clearly meant business.

Blair moved her knife back and forth as she was determining where to start but was stopped before she could even begin because of the voice from behind her.

"What are you doing?" Carl asked from the loft above them.

Blair whipped around to find Carl wasn't the only one standing there, but Sophia and Matt as well. "At the moment…nothing."

"What were you going to do then?" Matt asked her. She was clearly holding a knife and the guy's mouth was covered with tape so he could tell it wasn't anything good.

Blair sighed deeply as she returned the knife to her belt. "Nothing now." She turned to face Randall and smiled in a terrifying way as she whispered to him. "You're lucky I'm not Olivia – she would have started no matter what."

She didn't say anything else as she walked away and went up the ladder to the loft. "Stay away from him."

"We want to hear what he has to say," Sophia interjected. "We should get a vote, too. But how can we vote if we don't know the whole story?"

Blair sighed once again but gave in. "Fine. But you three look out for each other." She gestured to the knife on Carl's belt as she said, "If he gives you any trouble, you have my permission to stab him."

Matt thought this was too easy, especially since Blair was leaving them now. "That's it? You're not going to try and stop us?"

"I'm curious to see how long it takes for Andrea to realize you're in here," Blair answered with a teasing grin before seriously adding in, "If no one realizes you're in here in five minutes I'm telling."

"Fair enough," Matt replied with a bit of a salute and didn't say anything else before she left.

As soon as Blair walked away from the barn she felt a panic attack coming on. Becoming Olivia was something she never wanted to ever do again. That was a past life she'd much rather forget and yet that was the first one she wanted to channel to deal with Randall. It terrified her that she was willing to open that door to the past again. It terrified her what she was willing to do – what she was _going_ to if the kids didn't show up. A part of Blair was annoyed to hell and back that they did go into the barn at that moment but perhaps it was for the best. No…not perhaps – it _was_ for the best.

Blair didn't even realize where she was walking to and didn't hear Shane calling out to her either. It wasn't until he sprinted in front of her that his presence resonated with her. "What?" Her voice came out a bit weird because she was having a hard time catching her breath.

Shane caught this but didn't mention anything about it. "What were you doing in the barn? And don't give me any crap about you not being there because I saw you leave. Were you going to kill him?"

"I wanted to," Blair admitted, sounding more like herself now.

Shane looked to his side as he put his hands on his hips before asking her, "What stopped you?"

Blair didn't answer his question directly. At least, not at first. "I agree with you about what should happen to Randall. He should die, but I will side with whatever Rick ends up deciding to do. I can't side with you anymore – whether or not I agree." Siding with Shane brought out one of the worst parts of her and she didn't want that to happen again. Rick wasn't only her Partner, she realized that now, he was also her compass.

Before Shane could get another word out, she answered his question. "Carl and the other kids stopped me. They're in there now."

"You let them go in the barn?" Shane scoffed as he headed back towards the building.

"Call it seeing how adept Andrea is at playing guard!" Blair called out, then took a moment to think about where she wanted to go next and headed that way.

* * *

After Shane and Andrea got the kids out of the barn, Sophia and Carl went to find their parents and Matt went off exploring. He went into the woods and started going a ways but slowed down when he heard some leaves shuffling.

Matt quickly got off the path and pulled the bow from his shoulder. He took an arrow from the quiver and with a deep breath, stepped back onto the path and took aim only to lower it because the source of the sound was Carl. "I could have killed you, man."

"I've seen you shoot," Carl countered as he approached. "Not likely."

"Shut up," Matt shot back as he returned the arrow to its quiver and put the bow on his shoulder. "What are you doing here?"

Carl answered that with a question of his own. "Where are you going?"

"Not sure," Matt answered.

"Then I'm not sure either. I was just following you." Carl didn't say anything else and went on walking.

Matt shrugged, not caring either way, and went along with him.

They walked to the swamp and found a Walker there. When the Walker snarled at them, they both bolted away then realized it was stuck in the mud. Since this was the case, they thought it'd be a good idea to mess with it a bit. The boys picked up rocks and started throwing them at the Walker, finding amusement in how it snarled and waved its arms but couldn't break free of the mud.

Carl got hit with an idea and moved from his spot next to Matt – a safe distance from the Walker – and went over to it.

Matt thought he was being crazy. "What are you…" he was about to ask but then Carl pulled out a gun and changed it to, "What the hell?!"

"I'm gonna kill it," Carl answered as he tried to take aim but the Walker kept moving around. Finally, the Walker got itself free and fell towards Carl.

Matt quickly got his bow ready when Carl fell to the ground, freaking out as the Walker kept grabbing at him. He notched an arrow, aimed, and fired – getting the Walker in the head. If Matt was to be honest, he was surprised as hell that he did it but his behavior said otherwise.

Matt smugly put the bow on his shoulder, saying to Carl, "Not likely, huh?"

This time it was Carl's turn to say, "Shut up," before getting to his feet. There was something Carl forgot, though – he dropped the gun when he fell and didn't pick it back up.

There was something they both noticed however, and that was another Walker shuffling slowly towards them. Matt backed up, saying, "Yeah…I'm not going to bet on me making another headshot. Let's go!"

Carl didn't argue and ran like hell with Matt back to camp.

* * *

The sun was setting when the boys got back to camp. While the adults gathered in Hershel's living room to determine what was to happen with Randall, the kids were sent off to be watched by Jimmy. All the kids wanted to listen but none of them were allowed in the room. Once they were gone, things were silent there.

"So how do we do this?" Glenn asked, breaking the silence as he looked around the room. "Just take a vote?"

"Does it have to be unanimous?" Andrea wanted to know.

"If it has to be unanimous then there's no point in voting," Blair chimed in from her place on the floor next to Glenn. She looked over at Dale as she said, "We already know we don't all agree."

Lori, once again, cut in before Blair got too heated. "How about majority rules, then?"

Rick had another idea. "Well, let's just see where everyone stands, then we can talk through the options."

Shane was the first one to answer. "Well, where I sit, there's only one way to move forward."

Dale instantly interjected with his disdain. "Killing him, right? Why even bother taking a vote? It's clear to see which way the wind's blowing."

Rick sighed before answering. "Well, if people believe we should spare him, I wanna know."

"Well, I can tell you, it's a small group," Dale answered. "Maybe just me and Glenn."

Blair looked up at Glenn and saw the expression on his face. Clearly he wasn't in the same group as Dale and Blair was surprised to see it. "Awkward," she said quietly then placed her hand over her mouth so Glenn could respond.

Glenn faced Dale as he said, "Look, I – I think you're pretty much right about everything, all the time, but this…"

Dale cut him off there. "They've got you scared!"

"He's not one of us," Glenn countered. "And we – we've lost too many people already."

Since Glenn didn't agree, he turned to Maggie and Hershel. "What about you?" he asked them. "What do you think about this?"

Neither of them said a word for a few moments. Maggie finally answered by crossing her arms and asking, "Couldn't we continue keeping him prisoner?"

Daryl had an opinion about that. "Just another mouth to feed."

"It may be a lean winter," Hershel added in.

"We could ration better," Lori suggested.

Blair had enough of this and got to her feet, saying, "If we're actually voting then I vote to put him down." She then looked at Rick to make something clear, "I'll stand behind anything you decide, but I'm not listening to this back and forth crap anymore. You know my vote – let me know how it goes."

Before anyone could stop her, she went out the front door to sit on the porch to leave the group to discuss. Perhaps walking out like that was childish but Blair had reached her breaking point and doing nothing but going around in circles certainly wasn't helping.

* * *

It was almost dark when Dale stormed out of the house and went over to Blair. "You're getting what you want. They're going to kill him." With that said, he walked off.

Blair felt her blood boiling at that but it took her a few moments before she decided to respond to it.

"Hey!" She left the porch and went after him. When Blair caught up with Dale in the field, she shouted, "What I want? Are you kidding me?! You think I _want_ someone to die? I don't want anyone to die. I'm sick of all this death, Dale! I voted for him to be put down because that's our best chance at keeping everyone else safe." She added with a heated, incredulous tone, "I _want_ this?" Blair shook her head at him. "I _don't_ want this, but like I said, Dale, something is coming and I'm going to do _**whatever**_ it takes to try and keep it from happening."

Dale shook his head in pity at her. "This group is broken, Blair. _You_ are broken."

"You think I don't know that?" Blair almost laughed in reply. "You seriously think I don't know that? Believe me, I know. I have scars, Dale. And not just from waking up in this hell. If this group is broken, then maybe that's a good thing."

"How could that possibly be a good thing?" Dale could not make sense of that.

Blair answered the question like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "So we can heal."

"You can't be that naïve," Dale countered. "There won't be any coming back from this. There's no healing from this. This will break the group beyond repair and if you can't see that, then you are naïve."

"I'm not being naïve," she defended. "For once, since waking up in this new reality, I'm being hopeful. Maybe you're right – maybe the group will never heal, but I _hope_ we will. I hope that we all realize how much we need each other and how much we need to support one another. I hope that we're strong enough to endure whatever the hell this world has to throw at us. I _want_ us to be strong enough. _**That**_ is what I want."

Blair didn't have anything else to say and since Dale didn't seem to have a response either, she turned around and headed back to camp. Dale walked away as well, but in the opposite direction.

Blair was about halfway back to camp when she heard Dale scream. Upon hearing this, she ran like hell back the way she came and saw a Walker on top of Dale in the distance. "Dale!" she cried out as she ran. When Blair reached them she lunged at the Walker to get it off Dale then drove her knife into the Walker's head over and over. Blair would have kept on doing it but Daryl pulled her off it, saying, "That's enough."

Blair took deep breaths then saw Dale laying on the ground. He was disemboweled by the Walker and Blair blamed herself for not getting there in time. She quickly went to him and cupped his face. "We're gonna get you help," she said to him through her tears while Daryl was calling out to the others. "We got you."

Everything that happened next was a bit of a blur. When Rick and the others rushed over, Blair stepped back so Andrea could be with Dale. All Blair could think about was how she knew something was going to happen and it did.

When Matt and Carl saw the Walker that did this to Dale, they recognized it from the woods – the one they didn't kill. Carl went straight to his mom and cried, but Matt…Matt just stood there frozen.

Hershel told them that there was nothing to be done. Dale's injuries were too severe – he wouldn't survive anything.

Andrea cried out, "He's suffering! Do something!"

"Give him mercy," Blair said in a weak voice, and when Rick turned to face her, she repeated, "Give him mercy."

Rick understood what Blair was saying to him and agreed. He pulled out his revolver and aimed it at Dale's head, but he couldn't pull the trigger.

Daryl realized this and took the gun away from him. He crouched down beside Dale and held the gun out to his raised head, but it wasn't until he felt Blair's hands on his shoulders that he said, "Sorry, brother," and pulled the trigger.

* * *

End Season 2 Episode 11


	18. Death wish

After the ceremony they held for Dale, Blair stayed behind. She felt compelled to sit with Buddy at Bonnie's grave. It wasn't something she was able to do before but after the loss of yet another person, she wanted to talk to her friend.

Blair sat in front of Bonnie's grave, scratching Buddy's head as she spoke. "Hey, Bon-Bon." She chuckled after saying that. "Remember when Damon first called you that? It made you _so mad_. That's why he kept doing it, you know, because it bothered you so much. I gotta admit that I helped him with a couple of the other nicknames he started calling you because it turned into your thing."

She sniffled as she placed a hand upon the dirt and gripped a clump of the earth. "I couldn't come before because – because it wasn't you. It's still not you. I've tried so hard to remember you from this reality but there's nothing. The Blair here didn't know the Bonnie here and that _hurts_. Knowing that we never even met here, hurts." Blair shook her head to pull herself together. "I'm not making any sense, I know that. I – I just needed to talk to you."

A thought came to her mind that terrified her in that moment. "What if Elena's here, too? I don't have any memories of Elena from this reality, but what if she's _here_? How am I going to be able to handle that?" She brushed off her hands and changed subjects since there was no point in waiting for an answer she was never going to get. "Matt's here. Not our Matt, but still. And get this, he's like twelve. I didn't even recognize him! In my defense this reality's twelve-year-old version of Matt has shaggier, darker blonde hair and is taller than the Matt we grew up with. It's still _Matt_ , though. If that makes any sense – which none of this does."

Blair swallowed a lump in her throat before taking a deep breath. "I can't leave, Bonnie. Not yet. I'll know when it's time – I'll feel it in my gut. I don't expect you to understand – how could you? You _hate_ Zombie movies. You even refused to listen to that Zombie running app I downloaded for you. In all seriousness though, I hope you can understand this – You were willing to die for me and I am willing to live for _them_."

She leaned down and whispered to the grave, "This is goodbye, Bonnie. I don't know if I'll be able to come back and see you here. Something is coming – I can feel it. I don't know what or when, but I know _something_ is coming."

Blair had nothing else to say so she got to her feet. With a whistle and a wave to her hand, she said to Buddy, "Go find Sophia." He seemed to understand what she said because he took off running back to camp.

Blair was just about to follow but stopped to look at the graves one more time. When her eyes landed on Dale's, she said softly, "Goodbye to you, too, Dale." Her business there was finished so Blair made her way back to camp to help the others move into the house per Hershel's invitation. Blair couldn't believe it took losing Dale to get Hershel to finally see how bad things could get. It was oddly fitting in a way because it gave Dale's death some meaning – It took the death of the one who saw the world through clear eyes to remove the final bit of wool over one who was blind.

* * *

Matt made his way through the woods back to the mud patch where he and Carl encountered the Walker. It was only a matter of time before Daryl realized the gun was missing, so he went to get it back. Matt didn't intend on returning it himself, though. No, that was Carl's responsibility.

Finding where the gun was dropped was simple enough and so was bringing it to Carl. Those things were easy, but now it was time to do something hard. Matt was going to admit to Blair what happened – How the Walker that killed Dale was the one he didn't kill that day with Carl. Not saying anything about it was eating him up inside so it had to be done no matter the consequence.

Matt found Blair helping the others with the unloading of the vehicles. For a second Matt forgot they were moving everything into the house – he'd had a lot of other things on his mind. He could have waited for Blair to be done before talking to her about what happened but figured if she was distracted with the moving then maybe she wouldn't be so upset about it.

Blair was just pulling a crate out of the back of the truck when he walked over to her. "Hey, Blair, do you have a second to talk? There's something I need to tell you."

Blair adjusted her grip on the crate as she said, "Sure. What's up?"

Matt looked at the ground and kicked at a rock as he started telling her everything. He didn't miss a single detail about the woods, taunting the Walker, killing said Walker, then running off when another one showed up. Matt included everything about Carl and Daryl's gun, too. At the end of it all, he asked, "How much trouble am I in?"

Honestly, Blair didn't hear a word of it. Her head was starting to feel weird and she was doing all she could to stay upright. When Matt finished talking and looked at her, she opened her mouth to tell him this but ended up collapsing to the ground, the crate falling right along with her.

"Blair!" Matt exclaimed. He was really starting to freak out as he moved all the stuff that fell on her off. "Someone help!"

Glenn was the first to hear Matt's cries for help and he ran down the porch steps right over to him and Blair. "What happened?"

"I – I don't know," Matt frantically replied. "I was talking to her and she just fell."

Hershel was outside now and got the gist of what had happened. "Bring her inside."

Glenn didn't miss a beat and scooped up the unconscious Blair up in his arms.

Lori was outside now and went over to Matt to say, "Find Daryl – he should be packing up his tent area. Tell him what happened."

Matt didn't even give Lori a response to that and took off like a shot.

Lori was right, Matt found Daryl gathering up the last of the things and putting them onto his motorcycle. "Daryl!"

Daryl looked away from the saddle bag on his bike and saw Matt running like hell towards him. "What happened?"

"It's Blair," Matt told him through attempts at catching his breath. "She fell at the house. I don't know why."

Daryl got onto his motorcycle and held out his arm for Matt. "Let's go." He pulled Matt aboard and drove straight to the house.

* * *

When Blair woke up awhile later, she found Daryl sitting in the chair beside the bed and Hershel using his stethoscope to check her breathing and heartbeat. "What happened?"

Daryl shot out of the chair as soon as he heard her speak. "You passed out. We know why yet, Doc?"

"I have a theory." Hershel picked up Blair's bag from the floor and set it on the bed. "Glenn found that Blair has been hoarding her rations that don't perish so quickly."

Daryl looked at Blair like she was insane. "Why the hell would you do that?"

"For Lori," she groaned as she pushed herself into more of a sitting position. "In case something happens. Lori needs to eat."

"You're putting your own self at risk," Hershel interjected. "Most of your rations are in here. You'll be fine once you get some rest and some food."

Blair brushed it off like it wasn't a big deal. "I've survived on less for longer. My body just needs to adjust. I'll be fine."

Daryl literally wanted to shake some sense into her, but instead he asked, "Do you realize how stupid that is?"

Blair just glared at him in reply. "Lori's pregnant. She's more important."

Daryl couldn't even think of anything to say to her in that moment, so when Rick came into the room he waved his hand towards Blair saying, "Maybe you can talk some sense into this thick head of hers." He scoffed, took a deep breath, then kissed Blair's forehead. "I'll be back later."

Blair reached out and squeezed Daryl's hand before he left. The last thing she wanted to do was worry anyone. It's not like she knew she was going to pass out – it wasn't intentional.

Rick gave Daryl a look to say he'd keep an eye on Blair and thanked Hershel as they left. He closed the bedroom door behind them before pulling up a chair beside Blair. "I thought I didn't have to worry about you anymore."

"It's not like the blackouts. This is entirely different." Blair, once again, brushed it off like it was no big deal.

"I heard what Hershel said. You don't have to keep food aside for Lori. We're inside the house now – everything is going to be fine." There was a lot more he wanted to say to her but paced himself.

"Everything isn't going to be fine," Blair countered. "Something is still coming – I feel it in my gut." She saw the look he was giving her – the one that said she was overreacting – and glared at him. "Don't look at me in that tone of voice, Partner."

Rick wasn't going to have this argument with her – It wouldn't do either of them any good. So, instead, he took Blair's hand and held it. "I don't care what you feel in your gut. It's not worth putting yourself at risk. You need to stop acting like you have a death wish. Do you hear me, Partner?"

"Rick…" Blair wasn't able to get more than that out.

Rick cut her off. "You're not dispensable. If anything happens to you – you're not the only one who gets affected. You've said you would live for this group – this Pack. I'm asking you to do that for us, Blair. I'm asking you to do whatever it takes to survive."

Blair was about to strongly refute but she realized something – She never had this kind of reaction before to not eating as much as she should. And knowing the only way to get out of the Spell was to die made her wonder if the cards were stacked against her in that regard. Was the Spell rigging this reality so she would die more easily? If that was the case, Blair was going to do damn well whatever she could to keep that from happening.

"I didn't think of it like that. I was just thinking about Lori and the baby." That was mostly the truth anyway. She didn't think anything worse would come of it but now she was considering every possibility. "I'll be more careful. I give you my word."

"Good." Rick was so relieved to hear her say this. "Because if anything happened to you I'd go out of my damn mind."

* * *

After resting for a couple hours and eating a meal under the watchful eye of Carol, Blair had enough of being stuck in bed so she left it. Besides, she felt better. A nap and a meal was just what the doctor ordered – quite literally in fact.

Blair went into the living room where several members of the group were getting things settled. "What can I do to help?" She felt bad for being in bed those hours and not out there helping. It wasn't fair to the rest of the group.

"Are you sure you're strong enough?" After finding all the food in Blair's bag, Glenn was worried about her. When he first found it, he thought she had an eating disorder or something. It eased his mind a little to learn the reason for it wasn't that, but still he wanted to make sure she was alright.

Blair nudged Glenn a bit, saying, "I'm strong enough to kick your ass. Then again that's not really a strong selling point because I'm pretty sure Sophia could knock you out."

Glenn looked at her with a 'seriously?' expression when Sophia started giggling, then announced to the group, "Oh, yeah, she's better."

Lori came out of the kitchen to find Blair up and about. She had something to say to Blair and this was a good a time as any. "Can we talk outside please?"

Blair nodded with a, "Sure," and followed Lori out onto the porch.

Lori rested her hands on the back of her hips and took a deep breath before getting into what was on her mind. "Now while a I appreciate the thought behind what you were trying to do, I need you to do something different for me, Blair."

Blair answered without hesitation, "Name it."

Lori looked at her seriously. "I need you to give me your word that you'll do whatever the hell you have to do to survive. If anything happens to me, I need to know that you're alive for Rick and Carl."

Out of all the things Blair thought Lori was going to ask of her…that wasn't anywhere close. "And here I thought you were going to ask me to take over your laundry duties or something." Blair chuckled a bit awkwardly. "Where is this coming from? Because nothing is going to happen to you, Lori. Not on my watch."

"You were planning for the worst possible scenario and so am I." Lori stepped closer to Blair, saying more seriously than before, "I need your word, Blair. You'll look after them, I know you will."

Blair was going to argue again that nothing was going to happen to Lori but found she couldn't. Because of this, Blair nodded, saying softly, "Okay." She cleared her throat and said at a more normal level. "I give you my word with one condition."

Lori wasn't sure what this was going to be but was willing to hear it. "Which is?"

"When my gut tells me my time in this reality is over that I'm allowed to leave it." Blair wasn't going to budge on that. "If you agree to my condition then I will do whatever I have to in order to live and survive." Blair held out her hand to seal the vow. "Do we have a deal?"

Lori thought Blair's wording was a bit odd but took it as Blair looking for permission to opt out when things became too much. She couldn't stop Blair from doing that if that was what she wanted so she shook her hand. "We have a deal."

Blair nodded in a 'good' manner. "Now that that's settled, where's Matt? He was trying to tell me something earlier and I didn't hear a word of it."

Lori knew the answer to that. "He went with Carl to the barn. They went to stand lookout."

"Thanks." Blair went down the porch steps and headed straight to the barn. When she got there, Rick was exiting. She almost tripped in an attempt to stop walking before bumping right into him. "Matt in there?"

"I just had a long conversation with Matt and Carl about what happened," Rick replied and could tell Blair had no idea what he was talking about. "Ah, Matt was right. You didn't hear anything he said."

Blair crossed her arms. "And what did I not hear exactly?"

Rick gave her the gist since he took care of it. "Matt and Carl baited a Walker in the woods. Matt killed it but when another showed up, they ran. The surviving Walker was the one that killed Dale."

"Oh hell," Blair said to herself. "They must have been tearing themselves apart for that. Are they okay?"

Rick nodded. "Yeah, I think so. Like I said, we had a long talk. You're welcome to add to it if you want. Matt has kinda become yours and Daryl's charge and all."

Blair waved the offer off. "I trust you handled it just fine. If Matt wants to bring it up to me again then he will." She didn't even try to dispute his statement about Matt being like her and Daryl's charge because out of everyone else in the entire group, she and Daryl seemed to take on the most responsibility for him. And this was even before she found out he was her Matt Donovan's Alter.

Rick chuckled a bit at her reaction to this. "Takes a village huh?"

Blair agreed with him there. "That. Or a Pack."

* * *

On the way back to the house, Blair ran into Daryl on the porch. She sat on the railing beside him and slapped her hands on her legs with a deep exhale. "I never said being with me was going to be easy. I'm a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in an _awesome_ rack riding on a rollercoaster. I can adapt, I'm good at adapting, but that doesn't mean I actually change. If we're gonna keep doing what we're doing then I need you to understand that."

Daryl heard her, really heard her and accepted it. "Yeah, I get it. Don't mean I like it. But quit acting like you got a goddamn death wish."

Blair was starting to feel like a broken record but given the events leading up to this moment, it was deserved. "I give you my word that I'll stop acting like I have a death wish – which I don't, by the way. I just don't keep myself high up on my list of priorities."

Daryl looked at her with a mild scoff. "You got issues, Han."

Blair took in and let out a deep breath of air. "Yeah, I know. But don't we all?"

Daryl couldn't argue with her there. "Don't we all." He placed his hand on the back of her head and kissed the top of it. "See you when I get back. I'm going with Rick to ditch Randall."

"You guys better leave soon or you're gonna lose the light. It's getting late." Blair pointed this out as Daryl jumped over the railing and headed to the nearby truck.

"Gonna lose the light either way," Daryl replied.

T-Dog came out of the house with Dale's revolver in hand for Daryl. Before going down to give it to him, he said to Blair, "Quit making us all worry."

Blair dropped her head with a groan. "Is there a tape recorder around so I can just hit play and let my recorded voice tell people I don't have a death wish?"

"Brought this upon yourself, babe," T-Dog answered in a joking manner but cleared his throat after seeing the strong glare Daryl was giving him. "Blair. Not babe. Blair."

Blair got a laugh from that and leaned back against the post.

T-Dog went over to Daryl and handed him the revolver. "I was just kidding about the whole babe thing."

Daryl didn't answer that and inspected the gun. "This Dale's?" When T-Dog nodded, he added in, "Wish I knew where the hell mine was."

T-Dog got down to business. "I'm gonna go get the package." He headed off to the smaller storage barn where Randall was being held.

While he was doing that, Blair said, "I'd ask to come along but I doubt I'd be allowed to."

"You're right about that," Rick answered as he joined them. "You're not going on any outings any time soon."

Blair threw out her arms, exclaiming, "I gave my word! You know I never break it. I have issues, people, but I'm still here. I'm not ready to leave this reality."

Before Daryl or Rick could say anything in response to that, T-Dog rushed over to them saying, "The son of a bitch is gone." Suffice to say, that bit of information took all their present attention.

* * *

Everyone went out to the smaller barn to see how Randall escaped. It didn't make any sense because it was locked from the outside and the ladder was removed that led up to the loft. Blair thought there was something really hinky going on but wasn't going to say anything until they had more information to go on. Seemed like the information would be found sooner rather than later…thanks to Shane.

A bloodied Shane walked out of the trees shouting, "Rick! Rick!"

Lori saw him first and called back, "What happened?"

Shane didn't hesitate with his answer. "He's armed! He's got my gun!"

"Are you okay?" Carl asked worriedly because Shane's face looked pretty beat up.

"I'm fine," Shane answered as he made his way towards the group. "Little bastard just snuck up on me. He clocked me in the face."

Rick was taking this threat seriously. "Alright, Hershel, T-Dog, get everybody back to the house. Glenn, Daryl, you come with us." He went to Blair asking, "If I tell you to stay at the house are you going to or are you going to follow us?"

"What do you think?" Blair knew the group would be well protected so she wasn't needed there. She caught the worried look on Matt's face and went over to him.

"Don't go." Matt didn't want either her or Daryl to go.

"Nothing is going to happen to us, you hear me?" Blair kissed the top of his head. "Now stay with Carol. If Buddy gets out of the house I don't want you going after him, you hear me?"

Matt nodded in understanding but didn't say another word and sprinted over to Carol and Sophia.

"Can't you just let him go?" Carol asked, referring to Randall. "Wasn't that the plan to just let him go?"

"The plan was to let him go far away from here," Rick shot back. "Not cut him loose in our front step with a gun. Get everyone back to the house, lock all the doors, and stay put!"

"Be careful!" Sophia called out before going with the others to the house.

Blair adjusted the strap of her bag to tighten it up in case she needed to run for it and checked to make sure her sword was secured on her back as well. There was also a knife in her boot but didn't draw any attention to that. She had a feeling it would be better if no one knew she had a spare weapon.

"I saw him head up through the trees that way before I blacked out," Shane told them as they walked into the woods. "I'm not sure how long."

"He couldn't have gotten far," Rick observed as he looked around. "He's hobbled, exhausted."

"And armed," Glenn interjected.

"So are we," Rick countered. He gestured to Daryl, "Can you track him?"

Daryl looked around but saw nothing. "No, I don't see nothing." He looked at Blair because he knew she could track as well. "You?"

Blair shook her head. "Nada." This just made the situation all the more hinky. She was starting to think there was more to Shane's story than he was letting on.

Shane quickly nipped this tracking situation. "Hey, look, there ain't no use in tracking him, okay? He went that way. We need to pair up. We spread out. We just need to chase him down. That's it."

Daryl was starting to think this was a bit suspicious as well. "Kid weighs a buck-25 soaking wet. You trying to tell us he got the jump on you?"

Shane was pissed at the question. "It happens. Or have you forgotten that Blair here kicked your ass? And she didn't have a goddamn rock!"

Rick cut in there before things got too heated. "Alright, knock it off. Daryl, you and Glenn start heading up the right flank. Me, Shane, and Blair will take the left." He had to make one more thing clear before they spread out. "Remember, Randall's not the only threat out there."

"You look out for each other now." Blair wiggled her fingers between Daryl and Glenn. With her request made, she went off with the others.

* * *

It was dark now, but that didn't stop them looking for Randall. Even so, there was enough light from the moon for Rick to remark, "That looks busted up pretty bad."

Shane acted like his nose wasn't a big deal. "It's alright, man."

Blair sighed before stepping in front of Shane. "Let me see." To her surprise, he let her, so she gently touched his nose to check it. "It's definitely broken. We'll have to splint that when we get back to the house. And before you ask, yes I know what I'm talking about. I was a medic in a past life."

As they started walking again, she asked Shane, "How big was the rock?"

"Does it matter?" he scoffed in reply.

"Just curious. You don't have any eye swelling." Blair was fishing around and she knew it, but she wasn't going to come right out and accuse Shane of anything… _yet._

Shane didn't answer her question and put the conversation to its end. "Don't worry about me. We got more important things to deal with."

Blair looked at Rick and hoped he was starting to think the same thing she was and based off his expression, her hopes were answered.

They walked for awhile before Rick started a line of questioning. "This way feel right?"

Shane stopped and shrugged a bit. "As good as any."

Rick only slightly beat around the bush with his next question. "He took your gun, huh?"

"Yeah," Shane answered. "My favorite piece, too. He's gonna be sorry when I find his ass." He didn't say anything else about that and cocked his head. "Come on."

Rick took the lead with Shane right behind him, but Blair was behind Shane so he knew she'd have his back if anything went south.

* * *

Rick's group didn't find any signs of Randall so they left the woods to head back to the house. Once they cleared the woods, Rick asked, "So he hit you with a rock?"

Shane was getting tired of all these questions. "Yeah, I said that already."

Rick wasn't going to leave it there. "In the shed? 'Cause that door was shut when T-Dog rolled up."

Shane stopped walking. "I saw that, too. He must have slipped through the rafters in the roof."

"We pulled out the ladder," Blair interjected as she walked around to stand near Rick. "How could he have gotten up there?"

Rick looked to Blair, saying seriously, "Go back to the house, **now**."

Blair really didn't like where she felt this was heading. "I'm not going anywhere, Partner. And this does not mean I have a death wish."

"Listen to him, Blair," Shane interjected. "This has got nothing to do with you."

"You're right, you killing Randall and lying about it doesn't have anything to do with me but I'm still not going anywhere." Blair looked at Rick. "That's what you were going to confront him about, right?" Based off the look on Rick's face, she knew there was more to it.

"Guess I'll just have to take care of you, too. Pity." Shane pulled the gun from his belt and gripped it.

"Just call it what it is," Rick shot back. "Murder. Do you really think you can walk back onto that farm alone – no me, no Blair, no Randall, and they'll just buy whatever story you throw at them?!"

Shane shook his head. "It won't be a story. Randall shot you down and Blair, with her death wish, got too emotional. She ran to your body and Randall shot her down too. But me? I ran after him, snapped his neck. Now it'll be hard, Lori and Carl will miss you but they'll get over it. And Blair, well, Daryl will forget all about you when he finds a new piece of ass."

Blair took a step forward but stopped when Shane raised the gun at her.

Rick stepped in front of Blair and started moving with her along with him. "Why? Why now? I thought we worked all this out."

Shane laughed at his words. "We tried to kill each other, man. What you think? We just gonna forget about it all?"

"What about Blair, huh?" Rick wanted to know. "Like you said this has got nothing to do with her so just let her go."

"And have her tell everyone what happened?" Shane shook his head at that. "Naw. You should have sent her off with her boys. This is on you."

"So you're just gonna kill us in cold blood?" Rick shouted back. "Screw my wife? Have my children – _**my children**_ – call you daddy? Is that what you want?! That life won't be worth a damn. I know you. You won't be able to live with this. And if you kill Blair, you know Daryl won't stop until he finds out the truth. You know he will and when he does, you won't last a second."

While these exchanges were happening, Blair stayed behind Rick and reached down to get the knife out of her boot. With that in hand, all she needed was an opening.

"You don't know what I can live with! You don't know the first thing about what I can live with – what I can handle!" Shane but the gun in his belt and held out his arms. "But what about you, Rick? Huh?! What can you handle?!" Shane was about to say more but didn't get the chance to because of the knife that was now protruding out of his chest.

Shane looked up at Blair who was standing in a position that made it clear she had just thrown it. His legs gave out as blood gurgled out of his mouth.

Blair went over to Shane and grabbed hold of the knife, twisting it. "You made a big mistake, Shane. You went after my Partner, my **Pack**. No one does that and lives – not anymore." Blair forced the blade upwards and twisted it again before pulling it out. She stood up and staggered backwards. Her heart was pounding from the adrenaline but her hands were still.

She turned to Rick who looked shocked and at a loss for words. Blair figured she knew what he was thinking and answered his thoughts. "You didn't need his blood on your hands, Partner."

"Blair? Dad?"

Blair gasped when she heard Carl's voice and saw him standing nearby with a gun in his hand. "Carl…"

Rick went over to his son saying, "You know, you should be back home with your mom."

Blair slipped the knife back into her boot and went over as well. "Carl…" He raised the gun at her. "Carl, it's not what you think."

Rick held his hands out to Carl. "Son, please put the gun down. Let us…" He was cut off by the sound of Carl's gun going off accompanied by the sound of a body dropping behind them.

Blair and Rick both turned around and saw Shane's body – Shane's Walker body lying there with a bullet hole in his head.

As they all stood there looking at Shane's body, they were unaware of the hoard of Walkers coming towards them over the hill…

* * *

End Season 2 Episode 12


	19. Don't you dare - Season 2 Finale

Matt held onto his bow as he sat on the couch waiting for Blair, Daryl, and the others to get back. His knee bounced up and down in worry. All he could focus on was the worst possible scenario.

Sophia, on the other hand, had faith. "They're going to come back. Blair gave you her word, right? She never breaks her word." Sophia rubbed the top of Buddy's head who was laying on the floor in front of them. "They'll be back."

Just then the door opened and Daryl walked into the room with Glenn. Matt got up like a shot and ran over to Daryl, hugging him with no shame.

"It's alright, little man." Daryl hugged him back and mussed Matt's hair a bit before getting to business because he didn't see someone pretty damn important. "Blair ain't back with Rick and Shane yet? We heard a gunshot."

"Maybe they found Randall?" Lori suggested, trying to think of a hopeful scenario.

Daryl knew that wasn't the case. "We found him."

"Is he back in the shed?" Maggie wanted to know.

"He's a Walker," Daryl instantly replied.

Hershel found this concerning. "Did you find the Walker that bit him?"

"No, the weird thing is…he wasn't bit." Glenn was still trying to wrap his head around that one.

"His neck was broke," Daryl added in, along with a bit more information. "The thing is Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other. And Shane ain't no tracker, so he didn't come up behind him. They were together."

Daryl looked down at Matt to say, "I'm gonna go back out and look for Blair and the others. You stay here. Alright, little man?"

Matt didn't want him to go off again but knew how important it was to find Blair – He wanted her found just as much. "I'll stay."

Daryl put his hand on Matt's shoulder. "Good." He gave Lori a bit of a nod to say he'd be looking for Rick too then headed out.

Glenn and Andrea followed to give him some help but they all paused on the porch. From where they stood they could see the horde of Walkers moving around the barn coming straight for the house.

* * *

Blair walked back towards the house with Rick and Carl. The conversation going on between father and son didn't even register with her. All she kept thinking about was Shane. She hadn't killed a living person in a long time and for her Alter, it was the first. It just brought up a whole bunch of stuff with her and all she wanted was to get back to the house – to Daryl and Matt.

What she did hear, though, was Carl asking how Shane died. Blair stopped right in her tracks because in that moment it registered with her – Carl thought Shane was bit. How could she possibly tell him that she was the one who killed Shane? And how the hell did Shane become a Walker?

Neither Blair nor Rick had a chance to answer that because of the horde of growling Walkers on approach. Blair instantly pulled out her sword and took off when Rick quietly urged them all to basically get their asses into gear and run.

They ran towards a large tree and paused there to come up with a plan. "We need to get back to the house," Carl whispered, "tell the others."

"We'll never get through that," Rick countered while trying to come up with a different idea.

While they were talking, Blair took off her bag and Saya, pulled her leather jacket out of her bag, put it on, zipped it up, and returned her items to their place. "You do whatever you gotta do to protect Carl. I'm going to the house."

Rick looked at her like she was insane and said so. "You're never gonna make it through that!"

Blair pulled on her leather fingerless-gloves before picking up her sword. "You protect your family. I'm going after mine. And besides, it'll give you a little distraction and I'll find out how Glenn feels to be bait." She gave Rick a bit of a wink then took off before he had a chance to argue with her.

Rick and Carl made a run for the main barn nearby as Blair headed for the house. Blair didn't focus on impaling the Walkers' brains, she went more for beheading – it was quicker. At least, it was for her.

Slicing through the Walkers one by one brought Blair back to a time where she was Kaia. Kaia was surrounded by the enemy and she fought like hell to survive, and she did. If there was anyone to channel at that moment, it would definitely be her.

"I'm enjoying this too much," Blair laughed as she sliced through a Walker and then another. Once she got a big enough opening, she'd run for it then do the slicing and dicing all over again.

A time or two a Walker almost got her, but she reacted to that like she would a human. Blair dropped and swung her leg around to knock the Walker's legs from under them – All before using her sword to impale their skull – Something she likely wouldn't have done to a human.

Blair wasn't sure if the Spell was protecting her or if she was getting boosts from being a Werewolf in her reality, but she was covering a lot of ground. If she had to guess, it was the Spell. She just had a gut feeling it wasn't ready to let her go just as she wasn't ready to leave it.

Blair paused only for a moment when she realized the barn was on fire. "Epic move, Partner," she said to herself and got her ass back in gear.

By now, Daryl, Glenn, Maggie, and a few others from the group were in vehicles shooting down Walkers as they drove. Blair would be pissed as hell if she survived fighting her way through this horde only to get shot by a stray bullet.

Daryl rode his motorcycle as close to the fence as he could get and saw Blair slicing and dicing like a woman on one hell of a mission. "Move your ass, Death Wish!"

Blair laughed as she heard Daryl, beheaded one last Walker and ran for the fence. She climbed over it and ran straight for Daryl. "Where's Matt?"

"Back at the house. Get on." Daryl fired a couple shots at the Walkers as he spoke. The fact the first thing Blair asked for being Matt not bothering him in the least.

"Keep the bike open," Blair countered. "I have a feeling you're gonna need the seat! Rick set that fire, get someone over there to help them." Without another word, she took off for the house, probably running on nothing more than pure adrenaline by now.

* * *

When Blair got to the house, Lori and Carol were frantically looking for Carl. "Rick's got him," she breathlessly informed them. "Carl's with Rick."

"Are you sure?!" Lori demanded to know because she didn't want to go anywhere without her son.

"He's with Rick, Lori. I saw him with my own eyes. Rick's got him." Blair looked around the porch. "Where's Matt?"

"He's inside with Sophia and the others," Carol answered. "They wanted to help fight but I wouldn't let them."

Blair was relieved to hear that but there was no more time to waste. "We need to get the hell out of here."

Carol went right inside to get Sophia, Beth, Matt, and Patricia. Matt was the first out the door and ran straight to Blair. "You're alive!" he exclaimed.

"Damn right, I am. Now come on!" Blair saw that Hershel wasn't budging from his spot and just kept firing at the approaching Walkers. "Hershel, let's go!" she shouted at him, but he wasn't moving. As much as she hated leaving him behind, they couldn't wait any longer. "We have to go!"

They ran off the porch towards the nearest vehicle but Blair skidded to a stop when she heard screaming. Beth and Patricia were both being attacked by Walkers. There was nothing they could do for them so Blair didn't look back. "Go, go, go!" She screamed that out as loudly as she could to Sophia and Matt in hopes of drowning out the sounds of their screams as the Walkers tore through their flesh.

Carol got split off from the group and was pinned by the shed. She pulled the bow off her shoulder and tried to fire the arrows, but her hands were too shaky. Shooting at an actual Walker was different than a target. Carol tried several times to hit an approaching Walker but missed. It wasn't until Buddy came out of nowhere and jumped on one of the Walkers, snarling as he tore it apart, that Carol found her ground. She fired the last of her arrows and got the Walkers, using the last one on the Walker who was now going after Buddy.

Meanwhile, T-Dog sped up to Blair and the others and Andrea got out of the truck. "Get in," she said to the group.

"Get Carol!" Lori shouted out. "She ran that way!"

"Mama!" Sophia screamed as Lori put her into the truck. "Where is she? I don't see her!"

Blair climbed into the truck bed with Matt and hit the roof once they were in because the Walkers were starting to swarm. There was no time to waste. "Move it!" With her sword she started stabbing the Walkers who were trying to get to the truck while Matt fired at them with his bow. As soon as they felt the truck move away, they both got down so they wouldn't risk falling out of the thing.

Blair moved her still-tightly-strapped-around-her bag into a more comfortable position and rested her head back a bit to breathe.

Matt was still shaking and was trying to figure something out. He looked at Blair in almost awe when he realized something. "You were right. You said something was coming…and you were right."

Blair turned her head to look at him. "I tell the truth more often than people think."

Matt looked back through the truck window and saw Sophia crying. "Is Carol going to be alright? Is Daryl?"

Blair nodded as she said, "Yeah. I have a feeling they're going to be fine."

"How do you know?" Matt still didn't understand how Blair could possibly know any of this and yet she hadn't been wrong so far. As far as he knew, anyway.

"It's all in the gut." Blair held out her arm for Matt to come closer. "It's okay to cry now."

Matt had been holding back his tears since the whole horde thing began. Hearing that it was okay to let it out made him do just that. He bolted right into Blair's arms and cried.

Blair held him close as some of her own tears started to flow. "I got you, Mattie," she said softly as she kissed the top of his head, "I'm not going anywhere." As Blair said those words, she couldn't shake the feeling that Matt would be going a long time before she would, and hoped like hell that this would be one thing her gut was telling her wrong.

* * *

Blair and Matt had actually fallen asleep for a little bit, but they were jolted awake when T-Dog swerved. In the newfound daylight, Blair could tell Lori was having words with him so she pushed open the window to find out what's going on. "What's up?" When she realized what direction they were going in, she asked, "Why are we going in the opposite direction of the highway?" Blair figured they'd meet up where they first broke down because, other than the farm, that was the only place the group knew.

"T-Dog is trying to drive us to the coast." Lori was not happy about that and fiercely said to him, "You either turn back around or let us out!"

"I'm with her, T," Blair added in. "Get back to the highway or leave us."

T-Dog grumbled a bit to himself before speaking to them. "I should let y'all go. I should."

"But you're not going to." Blair reached through the window and patted him on the shoulder.

"No, I'm not," he grumbled. "Hold on back there." T-Dog turned around on the side of the road and went back towards the highway.

"Why are we going to the highway?" Matt asked as he held onto the side of the truck because of the bumpy turn-off. "Isn't that where the herd of Walkers came from?"

"Everyone who made it will go there," Blair explained, and at the questioning look on his face, she explained further. "It's the only other place we've all been to. They'll be there. Trust me."

* * *

Blair was right about that. When T-Dog pulled up to where they first broke down on the highway, Rick and Carl were there with Hershel. Lori was the first out of the truck and ran right to them.

Blair got out of the truck bed but stayed back with Sophia and Matt because the others weren't there yet.

"Where's my mom?" Sophia cried as she faced Blair. "Where is she?! You said she'd be here!"

Blair didn't even have a chance to reply before the sound of Daryl's motorcycle reached their ears. They all turned around to see Daryl in the lead, with Carol sitting behind him, and Maggie's car following them.

"Mama!" Sophia cried out and ran straight to Carol.

"Sophia," Carol gasped and scooped up her daughter in tearful greeting.

When Daryl got off the bike, Blair ran over and jumped on him. She wrapped her legs around his waist and with her hands on either side of his face she kissed him deeply.

T-Dog whistled at the sight because he thought that was one hell of a greeting.

Daryl chuckled deeply when their most enjoyable kiss ended. "Damn, Han, I could get used to hellos like that."

Blair beamed when Daryl set her back on her feet then almost lost her balance when Matt practically lunged at them and hugged them like there was no tomorrow.

Daryl laughed a bit at this greeting. "Careful, little man. You almost knocked us on our asses."

"Sorry." Matt quickly backed up, thinking he did something wrong, but as soon as he saw their faces he knew he didn't.

Daryl mussed up Matt's hair again and looked around. "Where's the rest of us?"

"Where's Beth?" Hershel and Maggie needed to know where she was.

Blair felt a sinking feeling in her stomach when he asked that. She looked down before telling them. "I'm so sorry. Beth and Patricia were behind me…I – I didn't see until it was too late. I'm _so sorry_."

"No," Maggie cried. "No!" She went right to her father and started crying over the loss of her younger sister.

Lori put her hand over her heart in grief then asked Rick, "Shane?" She took in a shaky breath when he shook his head in reply.

"Andrea?" Glenn didn't see her among the group.

"We got separated," Carol informed them. "I saw her go down with a Walker. I don't know what happened after that, I'm sorry."

Rick added to the account of what happened to who. "Jimmy was in the RV. It got overrun."

Blair went over to Carol, asking, "Did you see her get bit? Is there a chance Andrea could be okay?"

"I – I don't know," Carol admitted. "There were Walkers everywhere, but she's a fighter."

"I'm going back," Daryl stated as he started to get on his motorcycle.

"I'm coming with you." Blair looked to Carol, "You'll watch Matt?"

Rick cut in before anyone tried to do or say anything else. "No one is going anywhere."

"Why not?" Daryl wanted to know. "We can't just leave her."

"We don't even know if she is still there," Lori interjected.

"She isn't there. She isn't." There was a slight firmness to Rick's words. "She's either somewhere else or she's dead. There's no way to find her."

Glenn couldn't believe what he was hearing. "So we're not even going to look for her?"

"We gotta keep moving," Rick reasoned. "There have been Walkers crawling all over here."

T-Dog had a suggestion of where to go next. "I say head east."

Daryl had a recommendation of his own. "Stay off the main roads." A Walker approached them as he talked so he readied his crossbow. "The bigger the road, the more Walkers, more assholes like this one. I got him." Daryl took aim and fired the arrow right into the Walker's eye.

Blair watched as Daryl took down the Walker and couldn't help but think aloud, "That's still hot."

* * *

After gathering up the supplies that were left behind for Sophia when she was missing, the group got into the vehicles. Matt rode with Rick's family and T-Dog in the Bronco while Blair rode with Daryl on the motorcycle, and Carol went with Sophia, Hershel, Maggie, and Glenn in the other car. The truck T-Dog drove was left behind because it was the lowest gas-wise and the Bronco had a covered bed, unlike the truck.

Blair thought about a lot of things as she held onto Daryl as he drove. They'd been on the smaller road for awhile now, so she had a lot of time to think. At first she silently said goodbye to all the people they lost, along with a prayer she learned long ago to bid their souls a well trip into the afterlife.

More currently, Blair was thinking about what was going to happen next – Where were they going to go? What were they going to do? Questions like that went through her mind and she tried to come up with answers. If only she was more familiar with the Georgia of this reality. It was different enough from the Georgia in her own to screw with any possible plan she could have come up with. The memories of her Alter were no help because she'd never been to Georgia until she got off the bus stop. So, yeah, she wasn't getting very far in her planning.

Blair was pulled from her thoughts when she heard the honk of a vehicle. She turned around and saw Rick pulling the Bronco to a stop. The others followed suit and cut off their engines. Blair got off the bike and leaned back against it, figuring she knew why Rick brought them all to a stop.

Daryl figured he knew as well. He turned back as Rick walked towards them. "You out?"

"Running on fumes." It was clear all the stresses from what happened were wearing down on Rick.

Maggie had something to say about that. "Well we can't stay here."

"We can't all fit in one car," Glenn pointed out.

Rick felt he had an idea to rectify the situation based off the time of day. "We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning."

Carol rubbed Sophia's arms to warm her up as she said, "Stay the night here?" She didn't particularly like that idea.

Carl started shivering himself. "I'm freezing."

Sophia leaned closer to her mother for warmth. "Me too."

Lori had a remedy for that. "We'll build a fire, yeah?"

Blair pulled a few bandanas out of her bag and turned them into triangles before handing them out to the kids. "In the meantime, put these on. It's not much but it'll help keep your heads warm. And if it gets really cold, pull them down over your mouth with space to breathe. If nothing else your breath will warm up your face."

Daryl cocked his head towards T-Dog. "You go look for firewood, stay close. I only got so many arrows. How we doing on ammo?"

"Not enough," Rick answered as he paced.

"I have all my arrows in the car," Sophia offered up. "My mom has her bow."

"I got all mine, too," Matt added in. "That helps, right?"

Blair nodded proudly. "Absolutely."

Sophia went to the car to get the bow and arrows and brought them back to Blair. "Maybe you should keep them. You're better than us."

Blair thought this was sweet of her, in a way, but she wasn't going to leave Sophia or Carol undefended. "Those belong to you and your mom. You're better shots than you think. Keep them close. You got this."

Maggie cut in there, saying with heightened emotions, "We can't just sit here with our asses hanging out."

Hershel did not appreciate his daughter's choice of words. "Watch your mouth."

"Beth is dead," Maggie shot back. "I'm pretty sure that gives me a free pass on language!"

Glenn went to Maggie and rubbed her arm in an attempt to calm her down.

Maggie shook her head as she brought her hand to her mouth. This was starting to be too much for her.

Hershel was also mourning but there wasn't time for that now. His plan was to survive first and mourn later. "I know how hard this is, but everyone just needs to stop panicking and listen to Rick."

Rick's wheels were turning in his mind. "Alright, we'll set up a perimeter. In the morning we'll find gas and some supplies. We'll keep pushing on."

Glenn had an alternative to that. "Blair and I can go make a run now to find some gas." His opinion was that he and Blair were the best 'Runners'. Granted he didn't want to leave Maggie behind but she wasn't in an emotional state to go on a Run and figured she'd understand why he chose Blair.

Blair was more than willing to do just that but Rick had other plans.

Rick shot Glenn's idea down. "No, we stay together. God forbid something happens and people get stranded without a car."

Blair had to point out the hole in his logic. "In case you haven't noticed – We're already stranded, Partner."

Rick shot her The Look before addressing the group. "I know it looks bad, we've all been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other. I wasn't sure – I really wasn't – but we did. We're together. We keep it that way. We'll find shelter somewhere. There's gotta be a place."

Glenn didn't think Rick was thinking too clearly. "Rick, look around. Okay? There's Walkers everywhere. They're migrating or something."

Rick wasn't letting go of what he was hoping for. "There's gotta be a place not just where we hole up, but that we fortify, hunker down, pull ourselves together, build a _**life**_ for each other. I know that it's out there, we just have to _**find**_ it."

Maggie had to say something there. She sniffled and cleared her throat before speaking her mind. "Even if we do find a place, make is safe, we can never be sure for how long." Her voice broke a bit as she said, "Look what happened with the farm. We fooled ourselves into thinking that was safe."

Hershel vowed to his daughter, "We won't make that mistake again."

Rick spotted a nearby rock foundation near the river that must have belonged to an old, long forgotten mill or some sort of building once. There was no roof but it had walls so that was something at least. "We'll camp tonight over there, get on the road at the break of day."

Carol went over to Blair and Daryl, asking, "Does this feel right to you?"

Daryl remained quiet but Blair said, "I'm feeling like we don't got much of a choice."

"What if Walkers come?" Sophia asked, feeling really scared at the idea of that possibility.

Matt was worried about another possibility. "What if Randall's group comes?"

"You know, I found Randall," Daryl said to both Rick and Blair since neither of them knew about that yet. "He had turned, but he wasn't bit."

Blair wasn't expecting to hear that. "How in the holy hell did that happen?"

"Shane killed Randall," Daryl continued. "Just like he always wanted to."

"And then the herd got him?" Lori wanted to know. She was starting to freak out even more about all of this.

Blair moved away from the motorcycle to get a closer look of Rick's face. "What aren't you saying, Partner?" She could see he was holding something back and she wanted to know what it was.

Rick told the truth and yet lied at the same time, because Blair wasn't included in what he was about to say. "We're all infected."

Daryl wasn't sure if he heard him correctly. "What?"

Blair rolled her hand a bit because she didn't think she heard him right either. "Say that again."

Rick took a breath before continuing. "At the CDC, Jae told me before we ran. Whatever it is, we all carry it."

Blair wasn't sure what she was more upset about – the fact they were all infected or that Rick didn't say a word about it. "You didn't say anything. Why didn't you say anything? Some of my father's last words were to tell you this and you didn't say a damn thing to me about it?!" Her blood was definitely boiling at this point.

Rick knew she would be upset and he was right. "I'm sorry, Partner, but it wouldn't have made any difference."

Glenn couldn't help but feel like they'd been betrayed a little bit. "You knew this whole time?"

"How could I have known for sure?" Rick questioned back. "You saw how crazy that…" He stopped there because of the expression on Blair's face. To say she was pissed would be an understatement. To say if looks could kill he'd be dead would be a far better description.

Glenn scoffed a bit at Rick's words. "That isn't your call. Okay, when I found out about the Walkers in the barn, I told, for the good of everyone."

"Well, I thought it best that people didn't know." There was no way in hell now that he'd tell them the rest of it – that not only did Blair's blood not have the infection, when Jae added some infected blood to hers that her blood attacked and killed it. If there was a way to create a cure for what was happening, then Blair was probably the key. But there was no hope for a cure – all the CDC buildings met the same fate. So what was the point of giving them all hope in something that nothing could come of – There wasn't one.

Rick had nothing left to say so he walked off towards the rock walls, leaving the speechless group in his wake. All but Lori, anyway. She went after him.

Blair was fuming and started to pace back and forth a bit before she stormed off down the road a little bit. She needed some space but stayed close enough in case anything happened.

Matt went over to Daryl to ask something, "Does this mean no matter how we die we'll end up like the Walkers?"

Daryl hated that fact. "Yeah, little man. Sounds like it."

Since that was the case, Matt said, "If I ever die…kill me." Any other time there would be such irony in that statement, but with the world they were living in now…that irony no longer existed.

Meanwhile, Blair paced back and forth a bit with crossed arms. She was trying to calm down but wasn't getting very far. It didn't help when Lori came over to her.

Lori had just had a conversation about Shane with Rick and went straight to Blair afterwards. "Were you going to say anything?"

Blair wasn't sure what she was referring to. "I'm not in the mood for guessing games, Lori. Details."

Lori almost snapped something but didn't. "Were you ever going to say anything about Rick being the one who killed Shane?"

Blair's mouth gaped open a bit at that because that's so _not_ what happened. Finally, she found her words. "He didn't."

Lori scoffed at her reply. "Don't even start with that. Carl may have killed the Walker but Rick killed Shane. Don't even try to protect him."

Blair shook her head because she was sure she wasn't hearing things correctly. "That's what Rick told you?"

"Yeah," Lori shot back. "That's something you could have given me a head's up about." She scoffed and went over to Carl.

Blair's mouth gaped open a bit before she snapped it closed with a hardened expression. She stormed right over to Rick and demanded to know what the hell was going on. "Why did you tell Lori that you killed Shane when I was the one who did it?"

Rick didn't look at her as he answered. "It'll be easier for her to forgive me than you. She needs you to protect her and the baby. If Lori knew the truth she wouldn't let you anywhere near her or Carl. I need her to let you be there for them."

"That is – I can't even think of a word for what that is right now but it makes _no sense_." Blair couldn't even begin to figure out why Rick said what he did to Lori. "I think you need to take a breath. Not much of what you're saying is computing right now."

"I'm not asking you to understand," Rick shot back at her. "All I ask is you don't correct her – It should have been the truth. Shane's blood should have been on _**my hands**_!" His words were pretty heated towards her.

Blair popped her lips before pressing them together in frustration. "Like I said, _Rick_ , you need to take a breath because between what you didn't tell me before and what you're telling Lori now…I am _pissed_ at you." She walked away before the heat got any hotter and either one of them said or did something towards the other that they'd regret.

* * *

That night, Blair looked up at the full moon in the sky and thought about how if she was back in Mystic Falls then she'd be running around the forest as a Werewolf right then. Honestly, that was something she didn't miss from her reality. While the power was nice, having to change at every full moon got old. At least it did for her.

Blair zipped up her leather jacket a bit more and moved closer to the fire. She wasn't sure what was chilling her more – the cold night or the fact that her gut wasn't telling her anything. As she held her hands over the fire, she looked around at the group and how they were munching down on the jerky she'd been hoarding. "Bet you're glad I put away some rations now."

T-Dog, for one, was. "Remind me never to ignore your gut again."

"Y'all are slow learners about that," Blair sighed a bit teasingly. "But at least you're learning." She smiled a bit when that got a couple chuckles from the group.

Carol moved closer to Blair when Daryl rejoined them with some more wood for the fire because she had something on her mind and needed to say it. "We're not safe with him. Keeping something like that from us – especially from you, Blair. I know you call him you're Partner, but why do you need him? He's just going to pull you down – both of you."

Daryl answered because he could see that Blair was about to snap but was trying to hold back from doing so. "Naw. Rick's done alright by me."

"You're his henchmen," Carol retorted. "You both are. That's how he treats you. You two deserve better."

Blair finally looked away from the flames and turned to Carol. "What are you getting at here, Carol? What do you want?"

Carol was truthful with her answer. "A leader with honor."

Daryl defended Rick there. "Rick has honor."

Blair wasn't as kind with her words. "Then he needs to start acting like it." She forcefully threw a twig into the fire before getting to her feet. "If you two want to keep chatting about this, leave me out of it." Blair couldn't take much more turmoil. If her blood started to boil any further then she'd end up burning someone alive.

Just when she was about to walk away from the campfire, the sound of rustling leaves nearby reached the ears of the group. "What's that?" Sophia asked in a startled voice.

"Could be anything," Daryl answered as he got his crossbow ready just in case. "Could be a raccoon, could be a possum."

"Could be a Walker," Glenn added in and received a few 'that wasn't necessary' glares because of it.

Maggie was getting emotional again. "We need to leave. We need to get out of here. What are we waiting for?"

"Which way?" Glenn wanted to be facing the right direction in case it was a Walker.

Blair pulled out her Katana and used it to point in the direction. "That way – back from where we came."

Rick could see what was happening here and he wasn't going to let it happen. "The last thing we need is for everyone to be running off into the dark." He was quite firm with his words. "We don't have the vehicles. No one's travelling on foot."

Right then, a branch snapped, causing Hershel to say to the group, "Don't panic."

Maggie's heart started to pound in her chest. "I'm not – I'm not sitting here waiting for another herd to blow through. We need to move. Now."

"No one is going anywhere." Rick couldn't make himself any clearer and was starting to lose his composure and his temper.

"Then do something," Carol shot at him, which just made matters worse.

"I am doing something!" he seethed back in hushed tones. "I am keeping this Pack together, alive. I've been doing that all along, no matter what." His emotions started to get even more heightened. "I didn't ask for _this._ I killed my best friend for you people, for Christ's sake!"

Okay, now Blair really had no freaking idea what the hell Rick's endgame was where it came to who killed Shane. And then suddenly she remembered something – A time where Klaus was accused of killing someone whom he didn't, and instead of proving his innocence he used that death to invoke fear. What Rick was doing now reminded Blair of what Klaus did then and she wasn't liking it one bit. "Rick…"

Rick cut her off before she could even begin and kept on addressing the group. "You saw what he was like, how he pushed me, how he compromised us, how he threatened us." He paced a little before continuing on. "He staged the whole Randall thing, led me out to put a bullet in my back and to put a bullet in Blair's. He gave me _**no choice**_. He was my friend, but he came after me. My hands are clean."

Everyone in the group was silent after Rick's declaration – all but Carl who held onto Lori as he cried.

Rick looked around to find pretty much no one was willing to make eye-contact with him. "Maybe you people are better off without me." He waved behind him to the woods. "Go ahead. I say there's a place for us, but maybe – maybe it's just another pipe dream. Maybe – maybe I'm fooling myself again." Rick pointed to the group before gesturing back out to the woods again. "Why don't you – why don't you go and find out yourself? Send me a postcard." His words were still as heated as they were before. "Go on, there's the door. You can do better? Let's see how far you get."

Rick waited to see if anyone made a move, but none did. "No takers? Fine. But get one thing straight – You're staying in this Pack, this isn't a Democracy anymore." He slammed his hand on his chest, declaring in a hushed but fiery tone, "I am the Alpha!"

Those words caused Blair to boil over. After returning her Katana to its Saya, she stormed right over to Rick and punched him in the face. "This is not what being a Pack means!" she furiously yet quietly screamed at him. "And this…" she waved her hand around to refer to everything he had just said and done, "this is **not** what an Alpha does." Blair firmly pressed her finger into Rick's chest. "Don't you _**dare**_ use words holding that much meaning that you don't understand. **Don't. You. Dare.** "

The entire group stood there speechless at this exchange. No one thought Blair and Rick would ever have any kind of falling-out but clearly they had just witnessed it. This made them all worry about what was next for the group and wonder if they would ever find some place safe.

Little did they know…such a place was closer than they could imagine…

* * *

End Season 2 Episode 13 – Season 2 Finale

* * *

 **A/N: Hey, Readers! Well, we've reached the end of Season 2. Hope you've enjoyed reading it so far! Thank you all for reading and reviewing. And yes, Season 3 is definitely happening – In case anyone was wondering ;)**


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